Star Emblem
by pureshadow013
Summary: Far in the future, danger brews in the universe. With tensions mounting between alliances, Nocht and his friends attend the best academy available: Triple A. In hopes of training to be a tactician, he and his team of seven must train their best to be ready when the storm comes. But outside of the academy, the storm grows closer... A collaboration fic with Cormag Ravenstaff.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, for anyone who likes New World fics, here you go!**

**This is something I thought of while watching Star Wars one day that I immediately told Cormag about. We spent the next week or so going over the basics for it before we finally decided to start writing. For reviews, Cormag will answer via private message while I will answer at the start of each chapter. Beware; if you ask anything too spoilerific we will give contrasting answers to confuse you. Also, if you wish to see our other works, my fic I have Order and Chaos while Cormag is the writer of Sanity is not what it's meant to be and Impossible Emblem.**

**Disclaimer: Neither Cormag nor I own Fire Emblem or Star Wars. We do however, own the OCs.**

**XXXXXXXX**

"...Three small starships vanished in the area around Plegia today. The cause behind this is to be investigated, however, Plegia's rising tensions with Ylisse is the most probable cause."

Most probable cause my ass, we all know the Plegian Empire caused that, we just don't want to cause yet another war with them.

I saw a hand waving in front of my face. "Hello? Ylisse to Nocht, can you hear me?" I heard the voice of my friend Hawke beside me. He had light brown hair that was parted to the right side, as well as bright orange eyes, the right one holding a mark the shape of a rabbit's face. That was the mark of the taguel branded, one of the two races that had formed in the time between the fall of Grima and the repopulation of the dragons, which happened around the same time as the colonization of space. Due to the two happening around the same time, there are none who know what the current calendar stood for. The year was 3776, F.E. I myself had silver hair and emerald colored eyes. On my right palm was the mark of Grima, showing that I was one of the Earth branded, a variation of the Manakete branded that rose up along with the taguel branded. Manakete branded have multiple variations based on the type of dragon they are descended from, while taguel only have one, but have just as wide a pool of talents to be inherited. Both types are either capable of learning their -bane ability or an affinity ability. Manakete tended to learn magic of their respective, such as my own shadowgift, while taguel are very skilled with a certain weapon, as Hawke is with his firearms.

"Nocht, seriously, get your head out of the stars!" Hawke began to grow irritated as I became lost in my thoughts. "We're going to Triple A! Get excited, dammit!"

He was talking about Ascending Angels Academy, a prestigious school that took in the most talented high school students in both the galaxies of Archannea and Jugdral. The school once took people from all reaches of both galaxies, but due to rising tensions, it no longer takes students from the Plegian and Lopto Empires.

"Yeah, but the other students will mostly be people who have enough money to get personal instructors. We are both self trained, even if we have learned a little from our parents, it won't necessarily be enough to keep up."

"Nocht, remember how we got here? We managed to capture a rank two criminal, one that was fairly close to rank three at that. That means that the two of us can take on a lieutenant at least, and are individually close to a low ranking officer at least, skill wise. We'll have no problem here!"

That was a fair point, most civilians are lucky to take out a level zero criminal, petty thieves. Level twos are only a level below some druglords, and are usually sent either a small squad or a fairly high ranking officer. However, that didn't change the fact that, with the exception of a few who apply for the entrance exam a few years after the normal first-year age, most of the students were scouted out by the academy and

"There's also the fact that we are missing a third of our power, since that stupid thief decided going on a heist was more important than taking out that criminal."

The thief, Jett, had bright orange hair and hazel eyes, just like her mother Anna. She also had a scar running down her shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry about Jett, she's probably extremely excited for the two of us."

"Yeah, but we'll have to make it through three years without her, it just won't feel right."

We had all only known each other for the same amount of time, but we had become inseparable. I still remember the day we all met, although I doubt anyone could have forgotten such a crazy turn of events. Jett had attempted to rob the store owned by Hawke's parents, only for Hawke to pull a blaster pistol on her. When I walked into the store the first thing I saw was Hawke firing multiple rounds at Jett while she was throwing her knives at him. Both of them had minor injuries, but overall they had done much more damage to the store than each other. I had to use my dark magic in an attempt to create a wall between the two. Of course, it didn't last very long, but it held out until Hawke's parents came back. As a punishment, Hawke's parents made them help prepare my family's church's services for a month. While they technically didn't have any power over Jett, Hawke's dad was formerly a Feroxi warrior, and Jett knew she wouldn't have been able to avoid him for long.

As we all worked together, we came to a realization. None of our families, or at least Mine and Hawke's; Jett's parents died a few years prior in a shipwreck, had very much money. We also realized that together we could easily collect small sums of money by turning in low level criminals. Soon after, the three of us formed a gang of sorts, I would plan a way to catch vandals out in the open, and Hawke and Jett would wait somewhere to catch them off guard and knock them unconscious so we could take them to the police.

I was pulled out of my reverie as the ship came to a stop.

XXXXXXXXX

We walked out into the entrance, savoring the view of the massive marble walls reaching up through the academy's 13 floors. Through a large dome, we could see the flight training center, which was set to hold enough oxygen in the case of a malfunction during the session. There were doors leading to multiple libraries, magic, physical combat, tactics, and flight each getting their own libraries. There were also several forms of training areas for multiple classes and trainee classes, and were those… shops?

"Pretty massive considering there's less than 100 students, huh?" Hawke asked with a bright gleam in his eye.

"Maybe the architects sensed that one day, a man with an ego as large as yours would walk these halls and made sure they were ready." I said in a tone mimicking that of a storyteller.

Hawke chuckled "Then they should have added a few extra floors." And with that we both burst out laughing. "Ah, when we get our break after the first term we need to make sure Jett regrets not coming with us to bag that guy."

"Who says I needed an invitation in the first place?" We heard a familiar voice pierce through the hallway. We both turned to see Jett standing there, wearing a Triple A uniform. The uniform was typically a white jacket with either trousers or a skirt, depending on the students preferences. Extra adornments were added depending on the planet. Ylisseans chose either blue lining or, in the case of the growing 'Order of Altea' faction, the symbol of Naga. Feroxi used fur lining and the people of Jugdral added the emblem of their planet's respective crusader. Jett's uniform was the basic Ylissean one with one exception: that skirt didn't look uniform length to me.

"How did you get here and where did you get that uniform?" I asked her, extremely surprised at her presence.

"I got this uniform from my cousin who got an invitation but wasn't interested in joining the military." She responded in an innocent sounding voice.

I saw a man walking up towards us. He was blond with bright green eyes. He wore a grey suit, dark colored glasses, and carried a cane in his hands. Judging by the ears, he seemed to be a manakete. "You certainly look like an Anna, but you do not look like someone who has been working on one of the merchant ships for her whole life. You are obviously not the person who you claim to be, do you understand the consequences of your actions?" The man leaned in close to Jett with an inquisitive gaze.

"N-no sir?" Jett sputtered out, cracking under the man's dark gaze.

The man's face brightened "Why, there are none, of course! If you were able to get by the heavy security on that ship, then you certainly have the potential to become a great trickster or even an assassin someday! Now here, let's fill out this form." The man, who may have been the headmaster, brought out a pen and an information form."What is your name?"

"Jett, sir."

The manakete took on a disheartening look "So you're the daughter of that Anna, I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Wait, you knew my mother?"

"Why yes, the same goes for your friends' parents. They were all part of the same training crew about twenty five years ago now. Your mother was one of the finest tricksters to walk these halls, and their team was very formidable as well. I'm sure she would be very proud to see you here today. Now what will your trainee class be? Nocht and Hawke here have chosen the Scholar and Firearms Expert paths, respectively."

"Which one will give me my certifications for knife usage?"

"Well, there are several for that, but considering you are a thief, I would recommend the Cutpurse class."

"That sounds fine with me!" Jett smiled brightly.

"By the way, how did all of you meet?"

"Well," Jett began "This little thief ran into them at the store and stole these two's hearts!" She said with a goofy grin as she grabbed both of our arms. I felt heat rising to my cheeks at Jett's actions.

"I'm pretty sure I remember it differently, and with a lot more property damage." Hawke said as he began to tell the Headmaster how the events had actually played out.

XXXXXXXX

Artemis yawned and resisted the urge to stretch her arms. She did, however, scratch the Brand of the Exalt. Something of a nervous habit she'd developed.

And who wouldn't be nervous? She was going to one of the best academies in the universe! Triple A! She had her family's honor to uphold, it wouldn't do well for her to make a fool of herself.

"C'mon Artemis! Cheer up, this is what you've always wanted!" said a woman with shoulder length black hair. "I didn't train you to be nervous!"

Artemis took a deep breath and nodded, her long blue hair flowing as she did, "Of course. Thank you."

Her long time childhood friend Victoria chuckled, "You just have to be more determined! And that means you need to train more."

"If you keep training her like you used to, she'll never make it through the academy," said their third companion, Perseus.

"And that's why we have a healer, so we can train hard without having to worry!" Victoria declared.

Perseus sighed, "Artemis, one of these days Victoria's going to kill you with all that training."

"If I don't get her first that is!" chuckled Artemis.

"Hey! I'm better because I train more. I always win," Victoria said with triumph.

"No you don't," accused Artemis.

"Shut it you two, you're evenly matched. We're on the transport to Triple A, we don't need another one of your fights. It'd probably get us expelled," Perseus said exasperatedly.

The two women nodded and accepted their tall, blonde friend's advice.

"So, each of us picked a trainee class. It be helpful to memorize them, right?" Artemis asked, more to Perseus than to Victoria. "I'm an Apprentice, you're a...?" she turned to Victoria.

"A Halberdier," she supplied.

"And I'm an Advocate, to save you the trouble of asking," Perseus rolled his eyes. "Honestly, did either of you research this at all?"

"Too much training," said Victoria.

"Her fault," Artemis said as she pointed at Victoria.

Perseus sighed, "After those three, there's Scholar, Firearms Expert, Cuttpurse, Harpoon Man...and some others I don't remember."

"Hark! Does the high an mighty Perseus not know the rest!" Artemis said with a smile.

"Shut up," muttered Perseus. "It's both of yours fault. I had to stand by in case you needed healing. You should really stop beating the crap out of each other. Give me a break for once."

"Bruises teach best!" declared Victoria. "Besides, we didn't have all that much time usually."

Artemis looked down, that was her fault. Her parents were very against the idea of her learning to wield a sword. She and Victoria had trained in secret for years, and only when she had gotten her invitation had they accepted that she was going to live the life of the sword.

Victoria had convinced her to enter a tournament a few months ago. Apparently, Artemis had done quite well. Well enough that the Triple A agent in the audience had an invite for her before she left the arena.

Victoria had been jealous of her, so the axewoman made it her goal to enter another tournament and destroy the competition.

And she did. For all the advantages Artemis had over Victoria in weapon choice, her friend was used to fighting against a sword wielder and knew just how to take advantage of it. The Triple A agent seemed to have seen that, because he commented on it when handing Victoria her invite.

"I'm kind of mad that your motto applies to healing as well," Perseus grumbled.

Perseus had been guaranteed to go to Triple A for a long time. Both of his parents were two of the best magic users in the galaxy. Perseus was undoubtedly good, and he had shown it several times.

Artemis felt the transport slow to a stop. She jumped up with a smile, "Ready for school?"

Victoria rolled her eyes, "It sounds boring when you say it like that."

"Quiet you two. Let's get going," Perseus said, but the mirth was unmistakable in his eyes.

XXXXXXXXX

Reno took a sip of his beer and slid all of his gold pieces to the center, "All in."

The three other men at the table glanced at each other. The two on either side of Reno folded, but the one across from Reno match his bet.

The bar that the game was in was on Dain, one of the planets in the Jugdral Crusaders alliance. Reno's home for most of his childhood.

The blond man hid a smile. Reno was very good at cards, and he was very good at cheating. But he wasn't cheating this time. He didn't need to. Flying with the Space Pirates gave him the opportunity to become skilled at cards...and cheating, but that was beside the point.

"How old did you say you were kid?" the man across the table said.

"21," Reno smirked. Oh, he wasn't 21. Reno didn't know how old he was, the side effect of having his parents killed when he was young and being left on his grandfather's doorstep.

Reno didn't mind. He enjoyed changing his age for the situation. One day, he could be 21 in a drinking contest at a bar, another he could be 18 flirting with a pretty girl.

"Four of a kind," the man on the other side smirked. "Lucky sevens."

It was a nice hand. It would take a lot of luck to beat it.

But Reno was a lucky man.

"Four Kings, Chrom leads the line," Reno said, laying his hand on the table.

There was silence.

Reno quickly gathered up all the gold pieces in the table before the man finally reacted, "You cheat!"

The blond man sighed, of course. This always happened. Some people just couldn't see skill when it punched them in the face.

Reno set his heavy sack of gold on the ground and looked at the three men, "Do we honestly have to do this?"

"We don't tolerate cheaters around here," said the man who Reno had beat.

"Fine," Reno reached up to his head and pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes. He liked keeping them on his forehead at all times, plus they made him look cool. But that wasn't the only reason, a friend from the Space Pirates had made them for him. They were like having a computer of his eyes. An unbreakable computer.

But the main reason was that sunglasses are cool. And Reno was cool. It was a symbiotic relationship between the two.

The first man inched up to Reno, his fists up and ready to swing. Reno cockily put his hands in the pockets of his pants and smirked. The goon roared and threw a punch.

Reno leaned back. He wasn't the fastest person, but everyone could have fast reaction times.

Reno threw his foot into the goon's kneecap, sending him to the ground. As the man began to fall to the ground, Reno brought his knee into the man's face. The card player fell down, out cold.

The tall blond man threw his ponytail behind his back and ran a hand through his spikey hair. He casually brushed off the beat up, unbuttoned black suit coat he wore. The untucked white shirt he was wearing was given the same treatment. "Who's next?"

The second man, who had been on Reno's left ran at him. Reno blocked the first punch. And the second. But when the third came, Reno brought up an arm and directed it off course while taking his other fist and driving it into the man's solar plexus. Reno gasped slightly massaging his hand. That had hurt a bit.

With two men down, the last one (Who Reno had skillfully defeated) approached cautiously. Reno managed to block the first punch, but the second hit him in the chest. Knocked back, Reno was left defenseless to a third punch to the face.

Reno fell back and felt his head smash into the ground. His sunglasses flew off his head. Quickly grabbing them, he began to sit up and put the glasses on. Reno stood up as fast as he could and just in time to dodge the next punch.

Reno and the card player exchanged a rapid succession of punches and blocks, neither gaining the upper hand.

Finally, Reno managed to land one successful punch in, causing the man to stumble back a bit. Reno leapt forward and threw up his foot, smashing it into the man's gut.

Reno pushed his glasses back up to his forehead in his usual cocky manner with a smirk.

That's when Reno realized that there were still other people in the bar.

Reno wasn't stupid. He was probably going to get arrested if he stuck around.

Quickly gathering up his winnings, he bolted out of the bar.

XXXXXXXXX

"That was rather impressive," came an unfamiliar voice from behind him.

Reno turned around to see a man with interesting ears.

Manakete.

"It was just a bar fight," Reno shrugged.

"Yes. But for a pilot such as yourself, hand to hand combat wasn't something I expected. But I guess, flying with the Space Pirates teaches you things," the man behind Reno said.

Reno tensed and gave the man his full attention, "Are you going to arrest me?"

The man laughed, "Oh no, there aren't many pilots out there who are as good as you. It'd be a waste to arrest you. I have an...offer for you."

Reno quirked an eyebrow and invited the man to go on with a wave of his hand.

"Well, there's this school called Triple A..."

XXXXXXXXX

"Gramps! I'm back!" Reno shouted, walking into their shoddy apartment.

I hate being poor, Reno thought to himself.

"Finally!" came a wheezy voice from further in. "Swindle anyone else today?"

"Quiet you geezer, no need to be so insulting," Reno said, irritated. "I got us some money for a while. And I have news."

Reno's grandfather looked at him from his chair, "What sort of news?"

Reno passed a piece of paper to his grandfather, "I've been invited to some crazy, prissy top notch academy called Triple A."

Upon hearing that, his grandfather snatched the paper away from Reno and quickly read it. When he finished, he laughed, "Finally! I was hoping they wouldn't overlook such a good pilot as yourself."

"What," was Reno's answer.

"Your father, he went to this academy when he was your age. I knew you'd go too! I just knew it!" his grandfather said with joy.

"Calm down gramps, you'll give yourself a heart attack," Reno said. "The guy who gave it to me said it wouldn't cost me any money to go, so I planned on going."

"Go. Don't worry about me, I have money stashed away, I'll be fine. Though you could sell those fancy new fangled glasses of yours," Reno's grandfather glared at him.

"They're a gift from a friend, hell no!" Reno declared angrily.

His grandfather shrugged his shoulders, "Fine. Now go, get on a transport. Take your winnings from tonight, you'll need them."

"Alright. Whatever, see ya, grandpa," Reno said. Typical Reno, sappy goodbyes didn't work for him.

As Reno left, his grandfather chuckled, "That boy...he's like his father. Arrogant, irksome and good at flying. I suppose that makes sense given..." Reno's grandfather trailed off with a chuckle and went back to reading the book he had in front of him.

**XXXXXXXX**

**Okay, this will be an SYOC fic, so I'll try to give you the rundown on factions before you see the form. We will limit the number of characters, but we aren't sure how many protagonists and antagonists we will take.**

**First: the basics:**

**Akaneia/Jugdral: Ylissean army: Soldiers serving the republic of Ylisse. Leaders chosen by the senate.**

**Altean Order: A faction of the Ylissean army trying to revive the exalted line.**

**Ferox: Same as in-game, basically.**

**Plegian Empire: Led by an ill-tempered descendant of Gangrel, an empire trying to defeat Ylisse. In any war, the two are usually on opposite sides.**

**Earth Dragon Revival: A combination of the Lopto empire and the Grimleal. Their goal is to revive the race of earth dragons and recreate their war with the humans.**

**Jugdral Crusaders: The union of all 12 planets named for the original crusaders.**

**Tellius Galaxy: Ruled by the mighty Begnion Empire. Every planet in the galaxy is ruled by their Emperor/Empress.**

**New Greil: An assorted group of beorc, laguz, and branded. Their goals are to protect their galaxy and finally fix the strained relations between races.**

**Elibe Galaxy: 9 planets that constantly war with eachother. But in times of great need, unify a fight as one mighty force.**

**Dragon Slayers: A group that fights to ensure that the dragons are once again extinct.**

**Neutral: Space pirates, Anna Trade Corp.**

**Now, for each star system's status:**

**-Akaneia/Jugdral: (Two separate galaxies, but might as well be the same) Jugdral is ruled by the council of twelve, made up of each planet's ruler. Loptyr is ruled by the 'child of Loptyr' a dangerous earth branded sorceress. Ylisse is ruled by the senate, who also vote for military leaders. The Altean Order wishes to make Ylisse a monarchy, once again ruled by the exalted line.**

**-Elibe: A galaxy where every planet is usually at war amongst themselves. Most of the time, Bern and Etruria face off and the other planets get dragged in. But when time is dire, they unify and fight as one under the Dragonslayers 'Council of Eight.' The Eight leaders are stylized after the Eight Legends of Ancient Elibe.**

**-Tellius: Ruled by the Begnion Empire, an autocracy that worships Ashera. Every planet is controlled by them. New Greil however, opposes the racist views of the Empire and seek to overthrow it. The Begnion Empire usually is on opposite sides of Loptyr due to religious differences.**

**-Magvel, The dead galaxy: With the exception of a few pockets of resistance, the only humans are farmed and harvested for consumption. The greatest predators are the specters, led by the four grand specters that have lived since the revolt against humans. These specters could easily take out another galaxy or two if they would stop fighting each other and join forces. (Although they are weak to light magic and blessed weapons. The slayer skill would work too but there are no known holders of the skill and the rings that grant it can only be found on Magvel, so you'd already be in their territory) Antagonist OCs only for this one!**

**The new races:**

**Taguel Branded: Branded with extreme physical capabilities (can inherit increases in weapon affinities or beastbane)**

**Manakete Branded: Branded who obliterate their foes with arcane power (Inherit magic affinities or wyrmsbane)**

**Specters: Shapeshifters capable of wielding both human weapons and claws.**

**And the form:(There seemed to be some confusion so I added an example)**

**Name: Nocht**

**Age: 15**

**Gender: Male**

**Race: Earth Dragon Branded**

**Faction: Ylissean army**

**Class: Tactician**

**Job: Navigator**

**Parents: Sage and Dark flier**

**Inherits: Galeforce and Shadowgift**

**Trainee class: Scholar (+5 to magic) (You get five stat points or a new weapon class with a few stat points depending on the weapon type)**

**Assets: Skill, Speed, and Magic**

**Flaw: Def, Res, HP, Lck, Str (Since there are more flaws than assets, the flaws will be smaller losses while assets will be larger gains)**

**Uniform: White cloak with blue lining and the mark of Grima on the right sleeve**

**Casual: Torn jeans with a dark purple t-shirt**

**Formal: Dress pants with a black silk shirt. Only wears a suit on rare occasions.**

**Appearance: Silver hair with emerald green eyes, thin and wiry, average height. Brand on his right palm.**

**Personality: Calm and collected, the first to notice any change in someone's mood or in the environment. This calm persona melts away whenever the thief or lord teases him, leaving him in a flustered mess.**

**History: The son of two former soldiers who retired to take over the family's old church. Sadly, the church never quite got enough money from donations, and Nocht often had to earn money himself. He became the mastermind of the three demons of Southtown after he was caught up in a robbery three years prior to the story and ended up making money through minor bounty hunting. He was sent an invitation to triple A after he and the rifleman took down a class 2 criminal by themselves (The thief was off on a heist while this was happening)**

**Cormag Ravenstaff: Howdy! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as you can probably tell, Shadow wrote the first half and I wrote the second. We have different writing styles, so you could probably tell. Shadow created the six main characters (Nocht, Jett, Hawke, Artemis, Victoria, Perseus) and I created Reno. And yes, he's based off who you're thinking of. But that's fairly obvious. So now go check out our fics if you're bored! Huzzah!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, first off, note to readers of Order and Chaos: The updates for Order and Chaos will probably be slowed down a lot. Schools has started for me, and I was stupid enough to take mainly advanced classes. Due to this, it will be very difficult to find time to write it. Star Emblem, however, should still be able to hold a fair update pace, as I only have to write half the chapter. This may also change slightly once Cormag's school year starts, though in his case it depends more on the teachers, and once I start having Cross Country meets, but that shouldn't do too much.**

**Review answers:**

**Cookies: Yeah, I suck at proofreading, and I have a tendency towards run-on sentences. At least we have Cormag doing the editing, if I was in charge of that aspect we'd be screwed.**

**Ace: Well there's also the way we write povs and the wordcounts we are used to pumping out, but I like that since it makes it easier for readers to tell who wrote which parts.**

**Gunlord: Woo! We got the Gunlord seal of approval! That is better than what I got last time, although last time it was pretty nice compared to how awful that story's first chapter was.**

**Chasti: Yeah, I kinda tend to put tons of detail to make the chapters longer, it's kind of a crutch I use if I don't think I can get a chapter or scene to last long enough. The higher wordcount is admittedly due to Cormag, who is used to much, much longer chapters than I am.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem, if we did, then why would we settle for writing fanfiction?**

**XXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

The libraries of Triple A were massive. I spent the majority of the first day, during which there were no classes and we had yet to be assigned our dorms, orienting myself with the maze that was Ascending Angels. On the second day, when I was looking for a some books on tactics to check out, I saw a girl who seemed completely lost.

"Do you need any help, miss?" I asked the girl, who had blue hair and silver eyes. The Mark of the Exalt was visible on her neck.

"Oh! Um, yes, actually. I was looking for a novel to read, maybe in either the fantasy or the romance sections?"

"That's in another library entirely!" Seriously, it was right next to where everyone stayed last night, how did she miss it?

"I suck with directions, okay?" The girl huffed out, pouting.

"Fine, I'll show you where it is in a minute. I didn't quite get as many books as I wanted, but it should at least last me through the week."

"A week? That's enough to last a month, easily!" Huh? I only got about ten books, maybe seven hundred pages each. This was pretty light reading.

"I'll go through a book and a half a day, with no trouble." I said as I went to the checkout desk.

"What kinds of books are those?" The girl asked.

"They're mainly just military history and tactics. They aren't always the most fun books to read, but I'll certainly have to be knowledgeable about these things if I want to become a tactician." I picked up my books, heading out the door "Let's head out into the labyrinth!" I said with a grin.

"So, what's your trainee class?"

"I'm a Scholar, what about you?"

"I'm an Apprentice, so you'll mainly be training your magic? Shouldn't you be working on your sword work if you want to be a tactician?"

"And you'll be building your strength and improving your footwork. If I train up my magic enough to pick off the units with thick armor but low resistance, I'll make it a lot easier for my team to finish everyone off. Also, since I'm a Shadowgift, I'll be able to get my certification for dark magic without any extra training, that should make up for my lack of a swordsmanship."

"Well, there's also the fact that you don't have very large muscles." The girl giggled.

I formed a ball of wind in my hand "Do you want me to test out your magic resistance?" The girl gulped at this. Good, if I scare enough her maybe she won't notice how red my face is.

"So what's your name, anyway?" I asked, realizing the topic had never come up in our conversation.

"I'm Artemis, also you're supposed to tell your name before you ask for someone else's"

"Nocht, and I don't care about any formalities. None of us commoners do." I said in a teasing tone.

"Hey, I didn't say anything like-" She noticed my grin. "Oh, you were joking. I knew that." She said, flustered.

"We have reached our destination!" I said, raising my hands in a cheering motion as we entered the massive doors of fiction library section R.

XXXXXX

"So they have a library for each different genre?" Artemis asked in awe.

"Yep, and this is the romance section. It's not exactly my favorite genre, far from it actually, but it certainly has its merits and at least a few non-cringe worthy books."

Artemis began looking around the library, looking at every shelf one after another. She came back with nothing and sighed.

"What's wrong Artemis? Nothing you like?"

"The opposite, actually. I'm so spoiled for choice that I can't decide."

"Then just check out everything that looks good to you."

"I can't devour books like that! It takes at least a few days per book!"

"Let's see then…" I looked around, trying to find something I recognized. "Ah, here! This one's a classic." I said as I handed out a copy of Make Him Fall For You In a Fortnight. The book, over twenty millennia old, was considered the precursor to all modern romance novels.

"I'm surprised that you know your romance so well." Artemis stated "It certainly doesn't seem like something you would enjoy."

"I don't care for them that much, but I have read many of them. I once insulted my mother's favorite series, and she punished me by making sure I wouldn't get to read the books that I enjoyed until after I had read her entire collection of romance novels, numbering at least in the triple digits. Needless to say, after over a month of reading the genre, I gained a certain respect for it. Although several books in the genre are of...questionable quality."

"Well, thank you very much for finding this book for me." She said as she walked towards checkout. "Today's initiation, huh? Good luck!"

"Good luck to you as well, although if I'm grouped with some of my friends then I won't need luck."

"My friends and I are a formidable force ourselves, although we'll have another four people in our groups, so anything can happen."

"I'd like to see how our groups match up against each other." I said as we left the library.

XXXXXXX

We were faced with a rather interesting sight. Jett was parkouring in the beams below the roof while running away from a girl on a motorcycle made purely of blue energy. Hawke had his pistol out, exchanging rounds with a priest trainee who seemed to know light magic.

"Victoria, Perseus, seriously?" Artemis muttered under her breath.

The priest in training, Perseus, seemed to have a large capacity for magical power judging from the size of the rounds he was launching out, but no other talents that stick out particularly well. That could prove troublesome if Hawke takes a hit, as his magic resistance was rather poor. That is a big if, however, as dodging attacks was one of Hawke's two talents. His other talent was blocking physical attacks.

The cavalier, Victoria, had a rather light build in contrast with the halberd that she chose to wield, although she probably used the momentum of her vehicle to make such an unorthodox fighting style possible. The speed she moved at required her to lower her guard which meant that in the case that an attack landed, she would be in trouble. Despite the speed she maneuvered her vehicle with, I doubt she would actually be able to follow the movements of Jett, who had the most agility of anyone I had ever met. Even though the vehicle moved at a faster speed than Jett, that meant very little when the target can outmaneuver the chaser and even less between a grounded vehicle and an airborne target.

I decided to try to stop them before they ended up damaging something important. I pulled the purple hood I had installed on my uniform over my head so it covered my face, formed a long-running mist of dark magic, and spoke in the distorted voice that only the descendants of Earth Dragons could make. "What the hell is going on here?"

I smirked as everyone in the room froze. Sometimes inciting fear is a better tactic than actual force, and Earth Branded certainly knew how to scare the hell out of a person.

"I was just chasing down this thief, she stole from the academy store earlier!" Victoria said.

I waved the statement off "She's training to steal for the military, I doubt the headmaster cares."

Perseus was next "This guy was prattling off about he was the best shot in the galaxy, so I wanted to knock him down a notch."

"Yeah, Hawke's a little cocky. Couldn't you have at least taken it to the sparring areas where you could be certain you wouldn't damage anything?"

We were cut off by a familiar voice. "I see you all are getting along with your teammates." Teammates? That means- ...This is going to be a long three years.

"Uncle Beowolf?" I heard Artemis under her breath. Why is she so surprised? Oh, right. The headmaster is known for only revealing who he is to students or those he invites personally. I guess that applies to family members as well.

"Well, since you're acquainted with each other, I guess I should introduce you to the last member of your group. Meet Reno." He stepped to the side a little, letting us see the new member. The gun in his hands implied that he was a rifleman, however, the fact that it was sawed-off to make it possible for him to wield in one hand, as well as his larger legs, a sign of someone who was used to riding some form of mount implied otherwise. Also, as pegasi can't properly hold the weight of a man his size and a gun would be practically useless for a motorcyclist, it was safe to assume that he rode either a wyvern or a gryphon.

"I want you to meet me at the main training hall at noon. Today is your initiation, so will have to fight as a team to make it through. While you will not be kicked out if you fail, any failure will deal major damage to your record and affect your military standing once you graduate. Is that clear?" We all nodded quickly before he walked off. As soon as he left, everyone began squabbling again.

Reno grew confused by the outburst "What exactly happened here?"

Artemis and I looked at each other and sighed. "It's a long, stupid story." We both said, hoping he wouldn't press any further.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Leave it to me to be put into a team with a bunch of crazy people," muttered Reno to himself.

Reno and the other six 'teammates' walked toward the training hall for their initiation. Thankfully, it had been close to noon when he arrived and that meant Reno didn't have to spend a long period of time watching a bunch of kids squabbling thankfully.

The Harpoon Man sighed and looked at his shortened rifle. His old Space Pirate captain had given him that. She had said it was perfect for weaklings like himself. And while he knew that he was supposed to be using lances at this academy, per his trainee class, he knew that he'd always rather have the gun at his side.

"So what's your deal?" one of the girls on the team asked him.

Reno jumped a bit, startled out of his reverie. He blinked a few times, "Sorry, who're you?"

"I'm Jett!" she declared. "And back to my question."

"I'm Reno," he shrugged. There wasn't anything else to tell. At least, nothing he wanted to tell.

"C'mon, we're on the same team! We gotta get to know each other!" she said happily.

Reno sighed, and reached up to pull his sunglasses down in a vain attempt for solitude, when he discovered they weren't there!

"Cool glasses, I bet these could go for a pretty amount of cash!" she said, gold coins practically appearing in her eyes as she examined them.

"Hey!" Reno shouted an snatched them from her quicker than he'd over moved before. And he proceeded to put them back on his forehead and glare at Jett.

He stole something from a thief. He certainly was lucky.

"Aww," said Jett.

"I guess you're not the only one who knows how to steal stuff," Reno chuckled.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Reno shook his head and tried to concentrate on learning his way around the space station academy. If he was going to be here for three years, then he'd best get to know it well.

When they arrived at the training hall, another group of seven was walking out as they walked in.

"Good, you're on time," said Headmaster Beowolf from a high up chair amongst people whom Reno guessed were the teachers. "You will be going through your initiation with only your teammates. There will not be any other students in the examination. Now, there are three rooms through which you will go. The first will asses your battle skills and tactics. The second will be for seeing how each of you cope under pressure. And the final, will be to see how you work as one, single minded team. Proceed through that door, and good luck," Beowolf pointed to his right at a large door.

Reno followed the other six people through the door.

The seven of them entered a dark room. Some of them readied their weapons, while others merely stood there waiting.

"Hello?" came the Headmaster's voice over a speaker. "Welcome to the first room. Here is where you will be tested with only the weapons you carry on you at the moment. Your mission is to destroy every enemy in your path. If one of your teammates 'dies' in this trial, then you must leave them behind and they fail the examination. The trial will start once you step out of the box you stand in."

The lights came on. In front of them was a ruined village. The kind you might find after a bandit attack or a vast fire. And scattered around the village were armed men and women waiting for them. Through a process called Einherjar, computerized recreations of dead warriors could be created. They fought just like they had when they'd been alive, and were perfect for training exercises.

Reno glanced down and saw they stood within a green box. It had to be what the Headmaster had been talking about.

"So we have until we step outside of the box, and we need a plan," said Nocht.

Reno hoped the Scholar had one in mind, because plans were definitely not Reno's forte.

"We can take cover in these ruined houses. Our opponents could be hiding anywhere, so we can't let our guard down. Now, who has real life battle field experience? Like, who has shot and fought people in real life with real stakes?" Nocht asked.

Nocht, Jett and Hawke all raised their hands, apparently they had been some sort of thieving gang. Reno lazily raised his hand as well.

Nocht raised an eyebrow slightly at Reno, but continued, "Hawke and Reno will head up the middle of the two rows of houses. They'll take the enemy attention away from me and Perseus who will each go around and surprise them with magic. Artemis, Victoria and Jett will pick off anyone they see trying to kill any of us. Any questions?"

No one had any. Everyone who hadn't already pulled out their weapons did so and got into a ready position.

"On three. One...two...three!" shouted Nocht.

Reno began to run to where Nocht had said to go. Hawke ran beside him, readying his pistol.

There was an Einherjar standing right where Nocht had told them to go. Reno brought up his rifle and quickly took a stance and fired. The Einherjar looked over at them right as Reno's shot hit it in the gut.

Guns shot high concentrations of energy at enemies. The energy came from the one who held the gun, the more you fired, the more tired you'd become. But it allowed for people to put more of their power into a shot if their opponent had heavy armor.

The Einherjar fell over, dead. Its body disappeared like usual.

"That was pretty powerful," Hawke commented.

Reno said nothing, because that shot really had tired him out. While Reno may have been good at taking attacks, attacking was not his best strength. There was a reason why he was a pilot.

He and Hawke began firing from their spot at anything that moved. Soon the two of them had destroyed all the Einherjar in their path without mercy.

"You're not that bad," said Reno between shots.

"Did you doubt me?" Hawke chuckled.

"Yes," Reno said flatly.

"Hey!" Hawke said and turned to Reno angrily.

Reno turned and kicked Hawke in the chest, throwing him backward. A spear landed where Hawke was standing a second later. Reno pulled his gun up, lining the sights up quickly and fired. The blast hit his target right in the head.

An explosion of magic came from the enemy end of the battle. Nocht and Perseus had arrived and were attacking heavily.

"Well, we better move forward," Reno said, helping Hawke to his feet.

"Um...thanks," Hawke muttered.

Reno shrugged and the two walked on toward the fight at the end of the room.

XXXXXXXXX

With every Einherjar destroyed, the team continued on to the second room and second trial.

The second room was much, much smaller. While the seven of them fit within it comfortably, any more would have made it snug.

And there was a table in the center, with a bomb on it.

And it was clicking down from 5 minutes.

"Well damn, that's a mood killer," Reno said, leaning against the wall.

"You think that's real?" Artemis asked everyone.

Jett laughed, "Why would they invite us here to die? This isn't some horror story. It's obviously fake."

"But...this is a trial that was made by Uncle Beowolf...and he would do something like that," Artemis said.

Victoria nodded rigorously why Perseus merely nodded once.

4 minutes.

"Does anyone know how to diffuse a bomb?" Nocht asked.

"What, Mr. Reads-so-many-books doesn't know how to?" Jett smirked.

"What does diffusing a bomb have to do with tactics?" Nocht threw his hands up in the air.

"Well, your opponent might launch lots of bombs at you, then you'd want to be able to disarm them," Victoria said thoughtfully.

"Wouldn't having the bombs explode on impact work better?" muttered Artemis.

Meanwhile, Hawke, Reno and Perseus all knelt right next to the bomb and were having a perfectly calm level headed discussion of maturity.

"Hawke, I'll give you ten gold to shoot it," Reno said.

"Why?" Hawke said. "It'd explode, everyone knows shooting a bomb with a gun would just make it explode."

3 minutes.

"The Headmaster said this was a test to see how we operated under pressure, right? So that makes it sound like it's a real bomb with real explosions and such, right?" Perseus said.

It was quiet for a moment.

"Shit," Reno muttered.

2 minutes.

Now more than ever, Reno wished he had been taught how to dispose of bombs by the Space Pirates.

Jett sat down next to Hawke and began examining the bomb.

"Still want me to shoot it?" said Hawke.

"Yeah. But I'll give you twenty gold now," Reno said.

1 minute.

"Are we about to die?" Perseus asked.

"Yep," said Victoria.

"Um, guys?" Jett began.

"We need a plan," Nocht said. "There's always a plan."

"Except when there isn't," muttered Perseus.

"Hey, guys!" Jett tried to interrupt.

"Clock is ticking, sure you don't want that twenty gold?" said Reno with a smirk.

"Ha, I'd do it for fifty gold," Hawke said with a smirk of his own.

"Thirty."

"Forty."

"Thirty seven!" Reno said. He didn't have this kind of money, but he was pretty sure he could get out of the deal later.

"HEY! GUYS!" Jett screamed.

Everyone turned to her and shouted, "WHAT!?"

"There's an off switch!" she shouted. The clock was stopped at thirteen seconds.

There was silence.

Then...

"Son of a bitch!" Reno said.

XXXXXXXXX

They advanced onto the third trial and third room.

"So this is our teamwork trial? That'll go well," muttered Perseus, though loud enough so everyone could hear.

The room lit up, and it was smaller than the first, but larger than the second. At the center, there stood a tall soldier clad in heavy armor holding a large spear. An Einherjar.

"Welcome to the third trial. I am your opponent, Sir Frederick the Wary. As a team you must defeat me. Good luck," Frederick began spinning his spear in his hand and advanced toward them.

"But...I didn't have time for a plan!" said Nocht.

"Then come up with one! Me and Reno'll distract him!" said Hawke as he nodded to Reno.

Reno sighed and pointed his gun at Frederick and shot him. Frederick stopped charging and held up a gauntlet and blocked the blast, not even flinching.

Hawke pulled out his pistol and began firing rapidly. Frederick ignored all the shots that seemingly had no effect and got in front of Reno.

Frederick smashed the side of the lance into Reno's midsection. Reno doubled over, and Frederick proceeded to punch him in the gut which sent him flying backward towards the rest of the team.

Reno gasped for air, "The guy hits harder than a shot of whiskey...he's stronger than he should be."

Nocht nodded while Jett raised an eyebrow, "You drink?"

"I'm twenty fucking one. Or at least that's how old I'm choosing to be," Reno muttered.

"How can you choose your age?" Jett asked. But Reno never answered because Hawke was given the same treatment as Reno, except he was thrown into the wall.

"I think there's a reason why there's seven of us and one of him," groaned Hawke painfully. "Got that plan Nocht?"

Reno stood back on his feet, brushed the dust off his suit and resumed his usual stance of casualness.

"How can you be standing already?" Hawke said with pain.

"I didn't hit a wall. And I'm good at taking hits," Reno shrugged.

"Alright, phase one of the plan," Nocht said. "Throw Reno at Frederick."

"What," Reno said with a glare.

"Buy me some time!" Nocht said.

Swearing multiple times, the blonde walked back toward Frederick, far more wary this time.

Frederick thrust his spear forward. Reno batted it away with his gun and fired a shot aimed at Frederick's heart. But the knight's armor proved to be too much and the blast had no effect.

Frederick began spinning and stabbing his lance artfully at Reno who barely managed to keep blocking every attack and sneaking in a shot every once in a while.

But for all of Reno's defense, he was no frontline soldier and got tired very quickly. The blonde pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes and pointed the gun at Frederick and fired shot after shot after shot. The sunglasses proved to be a suitable barrier from the bright flashes of the gun.

The repeated shots seemed to put some pressure on Frederick as he started sliding backward with each shot.

And then the flow of blasts stopped, and Reno fell to one knee. Frederick advanced on him.

If a blast of magic hadn't smashed into him from Perseus, Reno probably would have been killed. Frederick stumbled and refocused his attack on Perseus and Nocht. The two began launching magic attack after magic attack.

Reno pushed his sunglasses back up just in time to see Jett stab Frederick in the back in a chink within his armor. The tall soldier howled, and turned only to find an axe connect with his shoulder.

"Axes beat lances, fool," said Victoria.

Artemis appeared from behind her friend and stabbed Frederick for a finishing blow. The Einherjar fell down and disappeared.

Reno began to stand up as Hawke came over to help him up. "How did you walk off that punch? He was pretty damn strong," Hawke asked.

"Defense is my specialty. Defense and I'm lucky," chuckled Reno as he gasped for air. Damn, that had taken more out of him than he'd thought.

Reno brushed off his clothes before accompanying the rest through the door onward.

XXXXXXXXX

"You did very well," said Headmaster Beowolf. "You passed the first trial very nicely. The second trial...well, that has yet to be evaluated. We're having trouble deciding how to interpret that one. And your teamwork could have used some work, but you did pass the third trial." Beowolf smiled warmly at the team, "Congratulations, you are all now part of Triple A."

Nocht, Jett and Hawke all cheered. Artemis, Victoria and Perseus began smiling and talking amongst themselves. Reno yawned and wished he had a bed to fall into.

"You better be damn proud of me gramps," muttered Reno to himself.

XXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

After the initiation, we were brought into the assembly hall, where Headmaster Beowolf was going to give an entrance speech. The entire time we were walking, I couldn't get my mind off of the test. After the first trial, I was practically useless. Tacticians were supposed to be observant, yet I couldn't even notice the OFF switch on the bomb. When we fought that powerful Einherjar, my best plan was 'throw Reno at it.' How the hell am I supposed to win battles when I can't even help my team take down one guy?

I was broken out of my reverie by the start of the speech. "Welcome students. Whether you are a first year or a third year, from the posh planet capitals or the slums, whether you wield the spell or the sword, you are all here today for one reason; to become the best soldier you can be for the sake of your planet. There is a great tension rising due to the actions of Plegia and Loptyr and there is a high possibility for war, but that is exactly what you are here for. I know many of you first years still make plenty of mistakes," We all looked at one another, grimacing at the reminder of our second trial "But you will learn from those mistakes, and make fewer as you go on. So with that, I plead that you don't worry over perfection now, but do all you can so that one day it may be within your grasp! At our academy, the sky is not the limit; it is only the beginning! Ascend above the clouds as if you were an angel in heaven; each day, become a little stronger, a little faster, a little smarter. Improve in each and every way that you possibly can; that is the purpose of our dear academy."

The curtains closed, and loud rounds of applause filled the auditorium.

**XXXXXXXX**

**Well, there's chapter 2, and the story is starting to get moving. The academy arc probably won't be all that long, but it will give us a buffer to work out some plot points.**

**Cormag: Yes, Shadow's got plenty of plot ideas. Most of the ideas are his that you read. I just blow things up and make characters shoot guns XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welp, here's chapter three, and I still haven't even started the next chapter of Order and Chaos. Ugh, damned homework, without that I'd be able to update both of them in a week instead of only getting the time to do my half of this. I have everything up to the end of the Plegia arc planned, with the timeskip arc being one of the few unplanned things in the story.**

**Anyway, let's just skip that stuff and go to the reviews:**

**Ace: There was a change, it just wasn't marked. Cormag's half was Reno's pov. I think that's how we'll do most other chapters, since those povs seem to be the easiest for us.**

**Bun-Bun: Yeah, we have several jokes we make during our conversations that make their way into the chapter, and I think that Nocht will probably be the most likely to do things like that, since he's the tactician and everything that happens in battle, good or bad, is at least partially his fault.**

**Angel D/L: Yeah, history repeats in more than one way here, except Magvel, Magvel's kinda screwed.**

**Pyro: The earliest any will show up is the end of the academy arc, so we can get our characters straightened out.**

**Chasti: I didn't expect those trials either, Cormag has been pulling some freaking awesome fight scenes for these. Oh well, Freddy's an Einherjar so they can just resummon him.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Fire Emblem, we don't own shit.**

**XXXXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

We were all sitting in the history classroom. In addition to our group, there seemed to be two other groups. One was made up of citizens from assorted Jugdralian planets and the other seemed to be purely Feroxi, which meant that our group was the only one with citizens of both galaxies.

Very few people, maybe five or six out of the entire class, were paying attention to the lecture. Artemis was one, sitting and attempting to make proper notes for the lecture. Perseus had pulled out a book of scripture and began to pray for the class to end. Victoria and Jett, who had ceased their bickering in favor of a truce out of boredom, had filled several pages of notes with tic-tac-toe boards. Reno was cleaning his sawed off shotgun under the table, and had a rather large whetstone for his spear in case he finished before the class ended. Hawke had completely given up on the notion of taking mundane classes in a military school, and opted to simply take a nap using his notebook as a pillow.

"Now that we've summarized some of the basics, let's spend the latter half of class going over some current politics. Can anyone tell me about the Altean Order that is rising up in Archannea?" Asked the professor, whose name I no longer remembered.

I immediately raised my hand, being the only one eager to answer questions about the lecture. "They are a group of soldiers who wish for Archannea to return to its old ways as a monarchy, believing that to be have been a time of much greater prosperity for Ylisse. They also feel that the divine branded should all be placed in seats of high power while the earth branded should be shunned for their associations with beings such as Medeus, Loptyr, and Grima. As such, they detest Yilisse's current democracy, as well as the fact that on occasion Earth Branded earn a place on the council, more often, in fact, than the divine branded, who are more often chosen for military positions than legislative ones."

"That is very correct. And for the planet of Loptyr?"

"The Lopto government is based purely on religion, even more so than the rest of Jugdral. When the Jugdralian government began, they refused to enter, as the rest of the galaxy held faith for the divine dragons, who stood in opposition against their own patron dragon, Loptyr. They hold the largest concentration of dark mages out of any planet in the known universe. Their leader is an Earth Branded known as the child of Loptyr."

"And Plegia?"

"While the political standing between Plegia and Ylisse has never been the best, in fact there have been multiple wars between the planets, many even before the colonization of space, the most recent emperor holds a hatred for Ylisse beyond the typical ruler. As a testament to this, he named his son, who is to rise to the throne in no more than three years, after the Mad King Gangrel. As was the emperor's wishes, the prince shows the hatred and cruelty Gangrel held in his early reign with none of the remorse he later developed."

"Can anyone tell me anything about the other galaxies? How about we start with Elibe?" I raised my hand, and the professor kept looking around. "Anyone who hasn't answered already? ...No? Then I guess I will cover this subject then. Elibe is made up of five small planets that are constantly at war with each other. The one middle ground between the governments is the Order of Dragonslayers. This order is filled with a little over one thousand of the strongest warriors in the universe. Even the weakest full fledged members are considered to be at least a class five warrior, the highest any non-military leader, with the exception of possibly a few of the space pirates and Annas. Their leaders, the council of eight, are so powerful that they reach the highest reaches of rank six, which puts them above nearly every human in existence. There have even been tales of the members of the council single-handedly defeating dragons. While the galaxy in itself is small, when they work together they can stand their ground against any other galaxy.

"Tellius is ruled mainly by the autocracy of Begnion. While the other planets differ on views, especially those regarding the laguz and branded, every planet in the galaxy fears the sheer size and power of the empire. Begnion's military is led by the Black Knight, and each Black Knight for thousands of years has been a descendant of Zelgius, who wielded the mystic blade Alondite. This line had gone undiscovered for millennia, until about five thousand years prior to the colonization of space when a man bearing the same mark as the original black knight came before the Emperor wielding the legendary blade itself. Despite this, there is a group called New Greil who fights against the power of the autocracy and has been gaining the support of some of the planets that support laguz rights. Although very little is truly known about the group, some theorize that the group's leaders are descended from the radiant hero Ike and the ravager of the four winds, Soren.

"Valentia, otherwise known as Valm, while having a very rich history, has not been very politically active as of yet. This galaxy is made up of the Valmese empire, who gave the galaxy its more common name, the market oriented planet of Chon'sin, which is known for both its skilled swordmasters and its massive manufacturing and trade organizations. Finally, there is a group of small planets known as the United Dukedoms of Roseanne, which is famous for its rich cultural influence.

"Finally, there is the dead galaxy of Magvel. A few centuries ago, four members of the species now known as Specters infiltrated the Magvelian government under the guise of humanity, and had all wielders of light magic, especially those with the slayer skill, executed. Now, those four specters are known as the grand specters, and all humans are either farmed for sustenance or in the small patches of resistance. Many of these Specters are extremely bloodthirsty, and will even attack their own species for nothing more than a snack. However, some are much more kind, there are even a select few that manage to form family structures. While little is known about Specters, there are two things that are certain: The only reason they haven't spread their influence is because they are too busy fighting each other, and that no one makes it further than Frelia and survives.

The bell suddenly rang. "I guess that's all for this lecture. I will be seeing you all again this time next week, and hopefully you will have adjusted enough during your other classes to be more attentive next time." And with that we all filed out the door, with some sprinting as quickly as possible.

XXXXXXX

Artemis pov

"Thank Naga! We're finally out of there!" Jett exclaimed happily as we left the classroom.

"And we have gym next, so we'll actually get to move around after sitting through that boring lecture!" Victoria agreed.

"Says the two who didn't even pay attention to the lesson." I teased lightly.

"Hey! At least we did something fun instead of letting our brains go numb like you and Noct! Although Nocht probably enjoyed the lecture. Anyway, what all did the teacher actually talk about?" Victoria asked.

"Well, the first half was mainly just basic lessons about space colonization that everyone knows, which was very boring. I did like the second half though, since we talked about politics and the other galaxies."

"Let me guess, you were excited about either the Altean Order's thoughts on divine branded or the fact that we'll probably get to kick some Plegian ass in a few years." Victoria said in an all-knowing voice.

"I'll admit it's a little of both, although I'm not quite as excited about the Altean Order, considering the smartest member of the group would be treated poorly due to his earth branded heritage." As well as many of the most intelligent people in Ylisse. Most of the planet's Earth Branded were descended from Robin, the greatest tactician to grace the galaxy. Most of his descendants take after him in that sense, which is why they are more likely to get senate seats than the divine branded, who typically think along the lines of 'Stab first, ask questions later.'

"Aww, does someone have a wittle crush on Nocht?" Jett asked in an extremely teasing tone.

"Can't really say anything about that, since I don't know him that well yet. Besides, he's your man, isn't he?" I asked with a smirk as Jett's face turned bright red.

"Looks like somebody can dish it out but can't take it" Victoria laughed.

"What about you, Victoria? Hawke and Reno look pretty cute, huh? And then there's Perseus, who you've known forever." Jett decided that Victoria had to become part of this conversation.

"Not talking about this!" Victoria said, covering her ears.

"Nope, you're not getting out of this!" I said, jumping up to pry Victoria's hands off her ears.

XXXXXXX

Nocht pov

"What do you think we'll do for gym class?" Perseus asked me as we entered the locker rooms.

"Well it certainly won't be something we'd see in a typical school's gym. Maybe turrets with fake ammo guarding an obstacle course, Maybe a squad of Einherjars or another powerful one which we will throw Reno at." I replied.

"Hey Nocht, get over here!" I heard both Reno and Hawke yell. I saw the two looking through some form of hole in the wall.

"What are you two doing?" The only answer I received was Reno's whistling. Wait a sec. "I'm not going look over there!"

"Damn! Artemis and Jett are looking fine in there!" Hawke whistled.

I immediately dashed over there, shoving Hawke aside with a strength I didn't know I possessed. I looked in the hole to see… nothing. "Huh?"

"Nocht, you need to find Naga." Perseus said with a frown.

"What about those two!?" I pointed at Reno and Hawke who were high fiving.

"Well they weren't being serious about it." Perseus responded.

I slammed the palm of my hand into my face. "You were part of that too, huh?" And everyone shared a round of laughter at my expense.

XXXXXXX

After they calmed down, the seven went into the gym that they had been instructed to be in.

The gym was quite large and dimly lit. In fact, none of them could see outside of the small spotlight that they had walked into.

"Welcome to gym class," came a voice from the darkness.

Seven heads turned toward the voice. A tall man with spikey black hair walked into the lit area. He was built like a Hero. "I am Zack," he said, "your Gym teacher. Though Gym probably isn't a name for it. Think of this as combat training. But let me welcome you, gentlemen and ladies." With the latter he winked at the three women. They rolled their eyes and he laughed.

Zack smiled at the seven of them, "This darkness in an analogy for what awaits you out in space. Anything could be out there, be it Spectres, Space Pirates or even a vast power like Plegia. You can't know what is going to come at you from the dark.

"Today I have a course prepared for you. No mounts of any kind today, on foot training for now. Mounts will be available next time. But I have a course that's an analogy for many real events that will happen randomly throughout your voyages."

Zack snapped his fingers. the rest of the gym lit up. Reno raised an eyebrow upon seeing that he and his team mates were actually boxed in. Giant rooms had risen from the floor that extended to the ceiling. "This door here," Zack pointed to a door to his right, "is the first room of today's obstacle course. Proceed when ready, I will be watching to see what you as a team need to improve on. Good luck."

Of the three rooms that had boxed them in, only one had a door. Artemis walked forward to open the door but was stopped by a cry from Nocht, "Wait!"

"What?" Artemis asked with confusion.

"We need a plan," Nocht declared.

"Didn't Zack say that this is an analogy for not knowing what's to come? How can we plan for that?" Reno said.

Nocht glared at Reno, "Well then. The default plan is to throw Reno at the enemy."

"Oi! You guys ready yet?!" shouted Zack from somewhere.

Artemis rolled her eyes and opened the door. The seven walked in and found themselves cloaked in black. No light.

"The first room..." came Zack's voice. "Your ship has been boarded. Enemies have made their way far through your defenses. You seven are the last line of defense until the control room. You must defeat your enemies or hold out until help arrives."

The lights flipped on. The team stood at the end of a long hallway in the open. Immediately, gun fire began and even an idiot could figure out where it was coming from.

At the other end of the hallway, several Einherjars were peeking out from behind walls firing at them.

Reno and Hawke quickly ducked behind the wall to their right. Jett and Nocht quickly followed them. The other three did the same thing, only behind the left wall.

"Zack said we have to kill them or hold out until help comes, right?" Hawke shouted over the gunfire.

"We can take 'em!" Jett exclaimed.

"Only four of us can fight in ranged combat," said Nocht.

"Well think of something soon!" Reno shouted as he peeked around the corner and fired a few shots from his rifle. He managed to hit one of the Einherjars.

"This is a firefight. If we stay in one place, we're screwed," Hawke said. He and Reno exchanged a glance and nodded. The two gunmen jumped out into the fire and let off a few shots before cowering behind opposite walls that were slightly in front of their starting place.

Pairs of walls extended all the way until the end of the hall equally apart. They had to get to the end and kill those that tried to kill them.

Victoria joined Reno behind his wall. "You know," she said. "I'm not very fond of this kind of training. We barely know each other, and here we are fighting. This isn't like how Artemis and I trained."

"Welcome to Triple A," muttered Reno as Perseus joined them. He launched a very powerful blast of light magic at the opposing side.

"While I want you to win," came Zack's voice from somewhere, "I don't want you to destroy my training equipment. Keep the power under control hotshot! This is an analogy, not the real thing!"

Reno chuckled at the scowl on Perseus' face. The Harpoon Man jumped out into the firing line and fired several shots. But he managed to miss one bullet that came and struck him in the left shoulder. Gasping in pain, he jumped back behind his wall.

"You alright?" Perseus said, taking his staff that was on a harness on his back.

"Paralyzed my arm! The shots paralyze you!" Reno cursed.

The warm glow of healing magic enveloped Reno's shoulder. Moving his left arm, the Harpoon Man thanked the Advocate with a nod of his head.

The firefight held at a stand still for several minutes. Hawke and Nocht tried to advance but were repelled by several Einherjars that already had taken cover behind the wall.

Reno decided to do something rather stupid.

Well, he thought it was a good idea, but chances are Nocht would have shaken his head.

The Harpoon Man jumped out into the hallway and started sprinting and firing his gun at anything that moved toward the end of the hall.

Then a shot hit his leg.

Reno fell over and he felt himself being dragged behind a wall deep in enemy territory. Jett stood over him muttering, "Even I'm not that stupid."

Reno grinned and shot an Einherjar that was creeping up on them. Jett proceeded to throw several knives, killing more than Reno had the entire time. When the Harpoon Man saw her grin, he muttered, "Go to hell."

"I didn't know you cared about me Reno! How sweet!" Jett giggled.

Reno took the lance off his back so he could sit down comfortably. As the sounds of Hawke's pistol and Victoria's battle cries came closer, Reno began to breathe easier. Then two Einherjars jumped the two teammates.

The two must have been some of the last Einherjar because the lack of gunfire was starting to take effect on Reno's hearing. But it still didn't change the fact that there were two Einherjar right in front of them.

Jett reacted quickly thanks to her long time experience with being a thief. One dagger into the man's throat, the other in his solar plexus.

Reno, having set his gun down, thrust his lance at his opponent. It struck the man in the heart.

"Nice shot," Jett smirked. She left Reno and ran forward to kill more people.

Reno stared at the lance in wonder, he had never even used a lance before, and now he was landing killshots on the first try? The Harpoon Man had only chosen the his class because the lance was the Crusader Dain's weapon. And his gramps had insisted when Reno had called him upon arriving at the space station, Triple A.

"Dumbass. Couldn't you have been a bit more careful?" Perseus said as he healed Reno's leg.

"I was just following the plan!" Reno said, a grin forming on his face.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I was going with Nocht's plan: Throw Reno at them."

XXXXXXXXX

"Well done!" Zack said upon the team entering the next room. He now stood right in front of them. "I like it when teams are aggressive."

"I'd say Reno is the aggressive one," Hawke said. "Or rather stupid, at that."

Zack chuckled, "Fools, haven't you heard of an Oifey before?"

They all looked at him in confusion. Zack, seeing that his joke was unreceived, stopped laughing, "Ahem, now the second room. It's rather straightforward. An obstacle course. Hope you like it, because by the time you graduate you're going to be able to do this course without the lights on." Zack grinned a feral grin, "Call it the final exam. So who's ready for a shot?"

Jett raised her hand eagerly. Zack chuckled and walked over to a control panel on the wall and hit a switch. The course came to life and Jett's eyes sparked with excitement.

"Whenever you're ready, think of this as an analogy for your ship getting blown up and you have to navigate it," Zack said helpfully.

"...You sure do love analogies," Perseus muttered.

Zack laughed and motioned for Jett to go.

Jett took a deep breath and walked forward. There were red lasers that were moving randomly about the first part of the room. Had she of been listening, she would have heard Perseus' remark, "What kind of ship has lasers on it?! Why would we ever need to avoid lasers!"

Zack hushed him by saying it was an analogy for the complicity of life. In fact, he began a long explanation of why lasers represented life, but Jett didn't pay attention.

There was a pattern here, she knew it. Jett stared at the lasers for a long time before making her move. Jett bent forward so she had both her hands and feet on the ground. She pushed against the ground and now stood on her hands. Pushing with her hands, she launched herself up. Twisting her head to the side to avoid a close laser, she landed on the ground and her acrobatics became one fluid motion. A twist this way, a flip that way. A handspring up, a somersault down.

After several minutes, Jett opened her eyes and saw she was on the other side. Jett hadn't even remembered closing them.

"Holy shit," Zack's voice broke her out of her reverie. "I guess I should say that I usually use the lasers to show first years they aren't invincible. But I guess you're just too good for that, huh?"

Jett laughed and Zack smirked.

Then the bell rang. The bell that signaled the end of class.

Zack frowned and looked like a puppy, "Aw, and I even had a room with a wild wyvern in it! But I'm not letting you guys off that easy. It's the end of the day, so that means this is the last class. Once you defeat your last opponent, then I'll let you leave. Follow me."

Zack took them back through the firefight room and back to where they'd entered the gym. He then punched a few buttons on a control panel and a door opened that Jett presumed to be the one they'd have taken were they to have finished the course in its entirety.

"Your opponent will be there soon," smirked Zack.

They all filed into the large square room. It was actually lit up, to Jett's surprise.

Zack's voice boomed through whatever he talked to them while inside the rooms with, "Final analogy for today. This fight represents the types of opponents that use their weapons to do what you didn't realize was possible. Good luck."

A pillar of light ascended from the ground. Jett, with her well trained ears, could hear the footsteps of someone walking out of the light.

A tall man with green hair stepped out. He had a white scarf with blue stripes wrapped around his neck and forehead. Jett's eyes immediately went to the book in his hands. A tome. And even though he was an Einherjar, Jett could feel it's power.

This guy would put Sir Frederick the Wary to shame.

"I'm Lewyn. Nice to meet you," he said nonchalantly. Though he seemed powerful, he didn't look like he was ready to fight.

Hawke pointed his pistol at Lewyn. The man frowned, "Now really, I'm but a humble Bard. Must you point that at me?"

Hawke fired three times.

And Lewyn moved like the wind.

At the exact moment Hawke pulled the trigger, Lewyn brought up his hands and wind magic blew around them. Hawke's three shots were caught by the wind and blown off course just enough so they wouldn't hit him. Hawke cursed and began firing several more times. Reno joined him in his barrage on Lewyn.

They made no progress.

Shot after shot were blown off course and hit the wall behind the Sage. Lewyn even yawned as he deflected the attacks.

"Ranged attacks won't work! We need to hit him head on!" Nocht shouted.

Victoria nodded and ran at the Sage with her axe held high. Once in range, she brought it down on Lewyn.

But her axe fell not on the Sage, but beside him. Wind had blown the weapon away.

Artemis stepped in and began a flurry of stabs at Lewyn. The tall man calmly stepped back and avoided each one with ease. Perseus began firing shots of light magic at the sage from afar. Magic wasn't like bullets, it couldn't be so easily redirected.

For the first time, Lewyn frowned and sent an attack at Perseus who dodged, barely. Jett decided to make her move and the Cutpurse lithely walked around the battle so Lewyn's back was to her.

Reno had taken his lance and tried to skewer the Sage in assistance with Artemis and Victoria. Hawke continued to fire shots, if only to distract Lewyn. Nocht joined Perseus in a magical onslaught.

Jett palmed the knife and took a deep breath and began to creep closer. Lewyn ducked out of the way of Nocht's spells while one of Perseus' hit him. It didn't deal much damage, but it distracted him sufficiently.

Jett glanced at the closest teammate: Victoria. The two shared a discrete glance.

Jett stabbed forward at Lewyn. The tall Sage turned, his scarf blowing in the winds of his magic. Jett felt the winds push against her hand sending it to her right against her will towards Victoria. The axe user swung her axe in an upper cut attack, only to have it collide with Jett's knife and render the attack useless.

Reno stabbed his lance at Lewyn's neck, only to be hit in the chest by a blast of wind, hurling him against the wall. Hawke ran at Lewyn, firing every step of the way. The Sage deflected the attacks just as he had before. But this time, Nocht and Perseus both stood behind the Sage and fired their respective magical attacks at the Einherjar. Lewyn thrust a hand forward, forcing Hawke to jump out of the way and abandon his attack. A fierce magical battle began between Nocht, Perseus and Lewyn.

But the Sage forgot about one thing.

And Artemis stabbed Lewyn through the chest.

The Sage gasped in pain as he spun around to put an end to Artemis, causing her sword to be pulled from her hands. But in the absence of his powerful winds, Perseus and Nocht blasted through Lewyn's defenses and their respective magic attacks.

Jett and Victoria's weapons found their way into Lewyn, knife in the gut and axe in the back respectively.

The Einherjar glowed, and then disappeared.

Amidst their tired breathing, the team heard clapping. Zack stood at the door with a smirk, "Nice job. Class dismissed."

**XXXXXXX**

**Aaaand there's chapter three. We now have Zack Fair in our cast, even if he probably won't be in the main cast. Maybe he'll end up with the same fate as in FF7, maybe not**

**Cormag: I should note, that I have never played Crisis Core in which Zack stars in. I don't have a good grasp of his character, so I added a Ravenstaff flare to it. So think of Zack as you would, but he loves analogies. Because analogies are cool. And they're one of the things I happen to be good at.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Nocht pov_

**Nothing to really put in the notes, so onto the reviews!**

**King (probably the only time I'll answer any that weren't on the most recent chapter): Yep, that's one of the things I'm good at: Doing fairly interesting descriptions or dialogue, even if it's mid battle and not all that needed.**

**Ace: Eh, the older ones were pretty good, up to ten or so at least, and XV looks much more promising than the more recent games, to say the least. Now if only we could get a TWEWY 2 like they've been hinting at for more than two years. Oh, c'mon, Lewyn didn't get too much damage, merely a flesh wound!**

**Chasti: Hell yeah for politics and history/geography that has barely changed since the games!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem, nor do we own any other the characters that make cameos or their respective franchises.**

**XXXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

Today was the first day of individual training. Each student had an instructor who chose to take him or her on as a student. Where Headmaster Beowolf managed to get enough of staff members for the instructors to outnumber the students, I'll never know. I guess being a manakete in the upper class gives one a large cash flow and plenty of time to save money.

As it was the first day, we all had deemed it pertinent to ensure that we each made it to class a few minutes early to give a good first impression to our instructors. That way, we would also get the chance to speak to the instructor prior to the lesson, and possibly get to know him or her. That seemed like a good plan in theory, but sadly my instructor had yet to show himself.

The bell rang out loudly, and as the ring finished a man in a purple shirt seemingly appeared from thin air.

The man, no older than thirty, was rather short, possibly 5'3 at most. This, however was counteracted by his spiky orange hair that reached up past my head. His shirt was a mottled black and purple, and had a hood like sag in the front. He was very thin, with his yellow wristbands sagging towards his hands, but his sheer magical power had an aura that rivaled- no, surpassed that of Lewyn. Small sparks of energy surged in his palm, forming a ball that he was toying with while listening to the music that was blaring out of his purple headphones. Although I didn't know the man, the aura he gave off along with the cold look in his blue eyes gave him the image of an angel who's had his wings ripped off and was out for revenge.

He finally noticed me and took off his headphones. "Nocht, right? Well, today's your first lesson, My name is Neku Sakuraba, and I would prefer that you refrain from calling me 'sir' or 'mister Sakuraba'. I hate formalities, so just call me Neku. I will teach you how to control your magic to its full potential," To emphasize this, Neku floated into the air and moved into a seating position "and if at all possible, I will teach you some of the wisdom I've gained over the years so that you don't make the same mistakes I did. For example, you should always trust your teammates, they will lift you up when you can stand no longer. I was too late in learning that particular bit of knowledge. If I had learned it sooner, my friends and I would never have suffered the trials we did, and my ignorance eventually caused their erasure."

"You… lost your friends? I don't know what I would do without mine." That explained the look in his eyes, as if he wanted revenge against an enemy that was completely out of his reach.

"Most of the instructors here have similar stories, we're all just a bunch of refugees that were taken in by Beowolf after our own worlds went to shit. Anyway, take this." Neku tossed a massive book at me that nearly threw me out of my seat.

I looked at the book, which was covered by many lines of ancient writings. I recognized it as the language of magic. Although the language was not widely used, all mages were at least proficient with its use. "Is this a tome? But I can already cast magic with just my hands, why would I need this?"

"While modern mages have more advanced methods than tomes, most of you skip straight to this method without ever trying the original. It's kind of like running a marathon when you haven't even run a mile before. I expect you to read this very thoroughly and try to see ways you can improve your own technique."

And so began a day of study. The text was difficult to understand and rather dull, but I felt I was picking up a few tricks as I went through. It seemed as if barely any time had passed when the bell rang.

XXXXXXXX

The next exercise was team sparring. The rest of my team met in the arena, a massive stone coliseum like the ones depicted in ancient Feroxi records.

Hawke let out a loud whistle "I wonder where Beowolf gets all this money"

"Probably drugs." Reno said, only for Artemis to smack him upside the head.

"That kind of talk about your own principal? Unacceptable!" Came a woman's voice. We all turned to see a beautiful brown haired woman. She wore a white dress that was reached about mid thigh with the sides parting to reach her knees, as well as long black gloves reaching her elbows, black boots and a black hairband.

"Miss Oblige? Are you the moderator for our sparring?" Perseus asked.

The woman laughed "I already told you that you can refer to me as Agnes, and no, your moderator is right…over...there." She pointed at a man in a green and yellow cloak who was floating down to the floor.

"My name is Mark," the man stated "And I will be monitoring all matches in this arena. In a while, you will be having your first sparring sessions with each other, but first we have an exhibition match to show you."

One by one, our instructors began to show up.

First, a man wearing a red trench coat and a black beanie who had completely gray eyes. He had the look of a defeated man and held a massive axe in his hand. According to Victoria, the man's name was Shinjiro . Although the man had seemingly no magical prowess, he could probably kill me at least ten different ways with brute force.

Second, a man wearing a leather jacket with the hood pulled completely over his head, with his face concealed by an intricate metal mask. He held what seemed to be a collapsible sword in his hand and probably kept various other weapons hidden in his cloak. The man held a very ancient form of magic, one that was weak yet extremely formidable. Jett stated that the man's name was Corvo.

A third came in, a little younger than the others. She had very bright blonde hair and blue eyes, and wore billowing blue cross of a cleric's traditional dress and an officer's outfit. She carried various pouches that most likely held vulneraries and elixirs. She did not seem to be very dangerous, based on muscular build or magical power, but the look in her eyes and the gun in her hand told otherwise. Hawke exclaimed loudly that this was his instructor, Frederica.

Finally, Neku walked in followed by another man wearing a black cloak with the hood over his face, who seemed to be about the same age. He wasn't displaying any of his weaponry, but between his build and aura, I could tell he was on about the same level as Neku as well. According to Artemis, this was her teacher, Roxas.

Suddenly, another figure floated down next to Mark. This one wore a dark cloak with purple lines forming the mark of Grima. There was only one person this could be; my ancestor, the grandmaster tactician Robin.

"As I said, there will be an exhibition match today." Mark began " As all the instructors know, and some of the students may know, Einherjars typically have less power than their original selves. Due to this, some of our instructors tend to get cocky, so Robin and I would like to show that we are still a force to be reckoned with. Roxas, Neku? Would you please step forward? And would the others be kind enough to please take their seats in the stands?"

XXXXXXX

In the arena, the battle commenced. Robin and Mark both pulled out brave swords while Roxas pulled out two blades. One was black and the other white, in the shape of… keys? Despite this weird form, there was certainly a great amount of power emanating from them.

"Hey, Roxas, we should probably work together. If we don't, these two will be able to overcome us with their tactics, so let's form a pact." Neku told his partner while holding out his hand.

"To hell with that, teamwork's only ever made things worse."

Neku put on his headphones "Your funeral, dumbass."

The cloaked man charged at Mark. "Come at me, you undead bastards!" While his two swords let him move faster than Mark, it wasn't much quicker than a brave sword, and with some teamwork he and Robin had no issues throwing the man to the ground.

"Don't insult us Einherjars when you are nothing but a shell yourself, nobody." Mark stated as Roxas stood up.

"So you're not gonna help your friend?" Robin asked Neku.

"Eh, he deserves it." Neku replies.

"No wonder all your friends ended up being butchered by the reapers." Robin sneered. Neku immediately pointed his hand in the shape of a gun, launching rounds of massive grey bullets that were blocked by Robin's multiple bolganones. After a moment, the rounds ended. "Bang bang." Robin chuckled.

Neku launched a massive pillar that Robin barely evaded before laying several bubbles of dark energy that seemed like mines.

That would have been a good plan had Roxas not been launched into said mines.

Roxas stood up, his entire body damaged by hitting multiple traps as if he were a pinball. He cast a healing spell on himself before raising both weapons, raining down multiple beams of holy energy on the enemies.

Just as before, this would have been a good move had Neku not been the only one to take damage from the attack.

Neku stood up, placing a barrier of wind around himself as he healed. The winds attacked Robin for a second before he and his teammate rammed Roxas and Neku into each other.

"That's it," Neku said as the barrier fell "I'll have to go all out now." A pair of white wings grew out of his back "In that game, I was put into so many life threatening decisions- Wait why aren't you attacking?"

"Well, normally I would have stabbed you by now, but this is just sparring and you were having a nice monologue." Robin replied.

"Okay, in that time, in order to survive, I had to become the very thing I thought against. Draconus Cantus!" Neku's form shifted, taking on that of a dragon… that was made of graffiti?

Roxas finished healing " I guess I'll have to go all out as well."

Mark groaned "Please tell me you don't have another monologue."

"Don't worry about that. This is my true power!" Roxas put away his two blades, pulling out a larger blade that had two hilts and a massive blade, surrounded by a blue aura.

The two groups fought, with Roxas and Neku each pushing back their enemy. They simultaneously prepared an attack to finish their adversaries off, but they narrowly dodged. Roxas was met with a massive amount of fire while Neku was hit by a beam of blue energy that forced him out of his dragon form.

The two forced themselves back up. Roxas looked at Neku "You know, that pact thing sounds pretty good right now." He held his hand.

Neku gave Roxas his hand and they both glowed blue for a moment. "Let's kick some ass. It's been a long time since my last pact, I forgot the rush that power gives you."

Roxas pulled out his white sword and handed it to Neku. "You can read minds right? Do you know what they mean?"

Mark looked at Robin "We should probably attack them."

"No! The only people either of them have bonded with are Beowolf and Zack, who remembers his old friend when he sees Roxas. They need this!" Robin yelled.

"Yes," Neku replied "The white one is Oathkeeper, which is meant to protect your friends.."

"And the black is Oblivion, to destroy those who mean to cause your friends harm." Roxas replied.

The two charged in, working in tandem with their respective blades. This time they overpowered their opponents, dealing a fair amount of damage.

When they came back, they were panting due to the energy they had used throughout the battle. "We'll have to finish this in one blow, will you give me all of your strength?" Neku asked his teammate.

"Let's do this already!" Roxas said, getting pumped up.

Roxas disappeared in an orb of yellow light, circling Neku's hand. He released the energy, letting loose a massive blast of energy.

Robin and Mark matched this, combining Excalibur and Valflame to unleash a massive blast of fire.

The two beams collided for a while, staying in the same position before Neku's attack began to overpower the other, coming almost all the way to the target before it simply gave out. What was left of Robin and Mark's attack spread to hit Neku, knocking him to the ground. Roxas re materialized next to him, his hood down to show his spiky blond hair and blue eyes.

"Well, that's our win," Robin began, "But had you two been working together like that from the start, you certainly would have won.

The losing team looked at each other. "You know," Neku began "After I trained for a while, I figured out that it's fairly easy to break pacts. Although I'll admit that I missed working with another."

"Don't worry about it," Roxas began "I couldn't have been a solo unit forever anyway, and If I remember correctly, this binds our life force, so you can't stab me in the back like that damned organisation. However, this also means you'll have to be my wingman, phones."

"Ugh, why does everyone use that nickname? And you'll have to be my wingman as well." Neku replied, and the two burst out laughing.

XXXXXXXX

Individual matches.

Boy, was Reno excited. Too bad he didn't yet know whose ass he would kick.

Mark cleared his throat from his podium, "Our first match is between Nocht and Perseus. Students, please take your positions."

The two of them nodded and walked down to the area. Nocht stood on Reno's left, and Perseus on his right.

Mark held up a gavel and slammed it on the podium, "Begin."

The two magic users began charging up attacks. Mages didn't need tomes anymore, mages could simply cast magic without their aid.

Nocht made the first move, and shot a blast of darkness at Perseus. The Advocate held one hand in front of him and a wall of light sprung to life in front of him. the darkness hit the wall and went no further.

Perseus collapsed the wall and began shooting small little strikes of light magic at Nocht. The Scholar smothered them with darkness, stopping them all before they struck the Scholar.

The Advocate frowned before beginning a barrage of light spells. From his seat, Reno had to avert his eyes, lest he become blind.

When he looked back, he saw Nocht on one knee, breathing heavily. Perseus barely looked winded as he brought up his hand to cast the final blow.

"You can do it Nocht!" shouted Jett from her seat.

Reno however, was cheering on Perseus silently. That would show Nocht and his plans of throwing Reno everywhere.

Nocht heard Jett's shout and he stood back up, albeit wearily. He began to form a shield of darkness as Perseus unleashed his attack.

The bolt of light pierced Nocht's shield. The attack blasted Nocht off his feet and into a wall.

"And the match goes to Perseus," Mark said, with a slam of his gavel.

A few medics began healing Nocht as Mark cleared his throat and spoke, "The next fight will be between Artemis and Jett."

The two women stood up, Artemis looking confident and Jett looking over at Nocht with worry.

"Students, take your positions," Mark said.

Jett drew two daggers while Artemis took her stance with her sword. The Cutpurse's knives' edges glowed green as they quickly powered up. Knives like that cut very easily. Artemis' sword was the same, except it was a sword.

The gavel slammed down, "Begin!"

The two circled each other, neither moving to gain any ground.

"Twenty gold on Jett," muttered Hawke beside Reno.

Reno nodded, "You're on."

Except Reno didn't have twenty gold. Oh well, Hawke didn't need to know that.

Artemis must have gotten fed up with the lack of combat because she charged Jett. The blue haired girl stabbed forward with her blade, only to have Jett knock it aside with one of her two knives. While one knife kept Artemis' sword at bay, Jett stabbed the other one forward.

Artemis reacted in time, albeit barely. Throwing herself to the side and abandoning her attack, she avoided the Cutpurse's weapon. Spinning her blade in her hand, Artemis jumped forward, back on the attack.

The blue haired woman tried piercing Jett's defenses and hitting her but every time her sword made its way past the daggers Jett jumped aside causing Artemis' attacks to constantly miss.

Then Jett jumped on the offensive. Suddenly, she was everywhere. Behind, in front, to the left, the right...Artemis couldn't keep up. She managed to block or fend off a few attacks but it wasn't long before Jett had a knife to her neck.

"Speed beats power," Jett smirked.

"And the match goes to Jett," said Mark.

Jett released Artemis and walked back to her seat. Artemis followed looking somewhat annoyed.

"You owe me twenty gold," muttered Hawke.

"The next match shall be between Hawke and Reno," announced Mark.

"Double or nothing," Reno suddenly said to Hawke as he stood up.

"What?" questioned Hawke.

"If I win, I don't have to pay you. If you win, I pay you forty," Reno said with a smirk.

Hawke grinned and nodded.

The two got into their positions. They waited for Mark's signal.

"Wait," came a new voice.

Reno looked up at one of the instructors. The guy in red with the red sword, and from process of elimination Reno's instructor, was standing. "Reno, use your lance."

Reno looked at the man strangely. Why would he use his lance? What a stupid idea. Reno had been a Space Pirate! Space Pirates used guns!

"Trust me Reno, you won't regret it," said the man as he sat back down.

The blonde Harpoon Man frowned. He didn't take out his lance.

"Begin," said Mark.

Hawke brought his gun up and shot several times. A few shots hit Reno, but they didn't do much to hinder Reno. The Harpoon Man raised his gun and fired a powerful blast.

The shot grazed Hawke's shoulder. Swearing, the Rifleman glanced at his shoulder to see the damage. Using the distraction, Reno ran up and swung his gun like a bludgeon at Hawke. The Rifleman was able to narrowly get out of the way. He then threw a punch at the Harpoon Man which connected with Reno's face.

Reno fell to the ground, reaching a hand up to his face when he felt a shot from Hawke's gun hit his left shoulder. Swearing as he felt his numb shoulder, Reno saw Hawke kick his rifle out of his grasp.

Reno rolled out of the way of Hawke's finishing shot. The rifle was on the other side of the battlefield. Not good.

Reno pulled out his lance.

And Reno felt that feeling he'd felt the other day in combat training.

Hawke shot at Reno a few times. The blond haired man swung his lance and deflected the attacks.

"The hell?" Reno muttered, confused. He charged Hawke.

Hawke looked surprised as well and he began shooting up a storm.

But before he knew it, the butt of Reno's lance collided with Hawke's face, taking him down for the match.

"And...that's it," said Mark, slightly surprised. "Ahem, the match goes to Reno."

The man in red stood up and whispered something to Mark. The tactician nodded and the man in red exited the instructor seating area.

"Come with me, Reno," he said.

XXXXXXXXX

"Who are you?" asked Reno rudely.

"I'm Shulk. Sorry about not being able to meet with you before the battles, I got caught up in my lab and lost track of the time," he said.

"And what was all that about my lance? How did you know...that would happen?" said Reno.

"It isn't my place to tell you," Shulk said. "I see more than everyone else. I can see the future. It doesn't happen frequently, but when it does, well...it explains a lot. I saw your fight with Hawke before it happened. Had you used your lance from the start, it would have been an even quicker battle."

"I want you to tell me what I did with my lance out there, now," Reno said firmly. "I don't give a damn about your supposed future sight, I want to know what happened. And you're going to tell me."

Shulk shook his head, "No. If you haven't figured it out by graduation, then I'll tell you."

Reno swore angrily. Shulk chuckled, "For being the oldest student, you can be pretty childish."

Reno walked out of the room, promptly ignoring Shulk. The red clad man chuckled, "He'll grow out of it."

"After all," Shulk muttered, his eyes flashing blue. "He may be forced to."

XXXXXXXXXX

Reno walked back into the main room of the arena just in time to hear the words, "The next fight will be between Reno and Victoria."

Reno frowned, what?

Mark noticed Reno's confusion and said, "Your instructor Shulk, asked for you to be in another fight."

Shulk nodded at Reno as the Harpoon Man glanced at him. Shrugging, Reno got into position and reached for his rifle...

That he hadn't picked up. Looked like it was with Hawke in the stands.

Growling, Reno pulled out his lance as Victoria pulled out her axe. Now he had to fight Miss Trains-a-lot at a disadvantage.

Good thing he had a trick up his sleeve.

Nonchalantly brushing dust off his beat up suit jacket, Reno motioned for Victoria to come at him.

The axe user charged him, swinging her axe at a powerful arc. Reno barely jumped out of the way in time.

The Harpoon Man stabbed his lance forward at Victoria. She knocked it away with her axe, causing Reno to stumble. Victoria entered in for the kill, swinging her axe in a slashing motion.

There was a flicker of light and Victoria found herself hurting and falling backwards. She quickly stood up, not giving time to even think about what that was. But Victoria found herself on the defense very quickly.

As if come over by another, Reno began his lancework with an artistic flare. His jabs and stabs all moved in rhythm, as if Reno had been using a lance his entire life.

To be blunt, Victoria didn't stand a chance. Even with her advantage.

Reno spun the lance in his hand and the butt of the lance hit Victoria in the chin, shoulder and leg all in rapid succession. While she was knocked back, Reno aimed a kick in her stomach, knocking her down. Reno put the tip of the lance at her throat.

Mark announced the end of the match as Reno helped Victoria up. "What was that?" Victoria asked.

Pretending that she didn't mean about the lance, Reno explained, "My skill. Counter. Sometimes I can activate on command."

Victoria nodded and picked up her axe and the two returned to their respective seats in the stands.

XXXXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

After the training, Perseus dragged me to the magic training room held within our team's suite. Each team was given a suite with a small bedroom for each member, a living room, dining room, and three training rooms for magic, melee weapons and firearms. As I've stated multiple times, I have no idea where Beowolf gets the money for all of this.

"I noticed a major flaw in your strategy during our battle earlier." He began "You used purely dark magic when anima would have had the advantage over my light magic. Yes, the higher power of dark magic balanced out my higher magical power, but that doesn't mean much when light magic tears right through it. What types of anima magic are you good with?"

"I can use lightning fairly well, and I know a little wind as well." I replied nervously. I never really used anima all that much, but lightning was relatively easy for Grima-descended Earth Branded, having been the branch used by Robin, and wind was essential for all mages since it ruined the mechanics of one man flying vehicles.

"Perfect. Let's try it." Perseus said as he launched multiple rods of light at me. I launched a basic thunder spell that traveled along each rod, shattering them all. "See, it's not that difficult when you use the triangle properly, this gives you a major advantage against all non-dark mages since you can shift between the two. Also, I think you should probably do some sword training. I know you think it's pointless since you're better at magic, but you'll dispatch enemies with weak armor much quicker with a killing edge, and a Levin Sword will give you a major advantage over axe users."

"You have a point, but I'd prefer to work on magic a little more first. So for the moment…" I pulled out the tome that Neku gave me out.

"Wait is that a real tome? Let me check it out!" And thus began a night of studying and Perseus being completely unable to read dark magic script.

XXXXXXXXXX

Artemis pov

I was standing in the melee training room next to Jett. I had my practice sword in my hands, waiting as she searched for more practice knives to use. "Why are we doing this again?" Jett said as she finished hunting for her supplies.

"I wanted a rematch, maybe I'll be able to win this time."

Jett smirked as she prepared her knives "Best of luck. You'll need it to keep up." She said in a mocking tone.

I immediately charged towards her, holding my blade. Jett prepared her knives, ready to block a blow that never came. Just as the sword was about to hit her guard, I flipped around to the other side with a strike that she barely managed to dodge. She had mocked me earlier, hoping to provoke me into leaving myself open. With that in mind, I opted for a feint to throw her off.

Jett lunged, lashing out with multiple strikes that I struggled to dodge. If it wasn't for the recovery time from her last dodge, I would have already been finished. She finished her attacks by bringing both hands down in a standard cross slash. I blocked, jumping while using the momentum of the attack to distance us from each other.

I may have be much stronger than her, and I was faster than most mercenaries, but that wouldn't be enough against someone this agile. I'd have to try my father's attack, one that I had only learned by watching his training and tournaments in secret. I lightened my blows while moving at a much faster pace, in my father's words, the skill required one to 'strike with the gentleness of the falling sakura petals yet as swift as the most brutal storm'. She blocked the first blow, but the second hit her shoulder, dodged the third only to be hit in the shin by the fourth. With the fifth, I brought my blade to her neck, only to find that she had done the same to me.

"Looks like it's a draw." Jett stated simply "Where did you learn that skill any way? Wasn't that Astra?"

"My father was a swordmaster from Chon'sin, who was sent to help on the Ylissean ship Morgan under the charge of my mother. The ship came in the latter half of the war, and was given great commendations during that short time. Some even considering the crew's creation to be the turning point of the war."

"Huh, my mom and Nocht's parents worked on the ship, but we never met any of their crewmates since they were all in the capitol, while they preferred to stay in the small area of Southtown. Anyway, did you learn anything else from him?"

"Yes, this." I said with a grin as I picked up two thin blades, preparing for another spar. This time, our clashes were much more even, wit me sacrificing some brute force for speed. We broke apart, and Jett relentlessly launched volley after volley of knives at me. I pulled out all the stops from the start this time, knowing that if I couldn't take out the knives with Astra I'd be done for. I knocked one, two five ten, twenty knives from the air as I struck with both blades as swiftly and accurately as I got rid of the remaining blades I brought both of mine to her neck. "And that's my round?"

"Wanna go again?"

"Let's go for either an hour or until one of us gets a major lead, whichever comes last."

"Sounds fine with me." Jett smiled before we began anew.

XXXXXXX

Nocht pov

After several hours of studying the tome, Perseus and I opted to head to bed. As we passed the melee room, we were met with a strange sight.

The door was wide open, showing Jett and Artemis unconscious on the floor with their weapons scattered across the floor.

Perseus walked over to check on them "No major damage, just light bruises from training. It seems they have simply overworked themselves. To emphasize this, Artemis began snoring loudly. "You take Jett. I'll take Artemis because I'm used to caring for her and Victoria anyway." He said as he healed the two.

I scooped Jett up. "Thank Naga you're so light, otherwise I'd probably have to drag you."

"But we didn't finish." Jett mumbled in her sleep.

I took Jett over to her room, laying her down and pulling a blanket over her before taking a seat to rest for a moment. When I tried to get up, I felt Jett's arms wrapping around my right arm. I wasn't going to be able to get up without waking her, so I was in for a long night.

**XXXXXXXX**

**Well, we didn't really do much other than a double dose of action, but hey! We have more cannon fodd- er, I mean cameo Characters that most definitely aren't exceedingly expendable! And pseudo supports, as well! (kinda). Please leave a review, they are vulnerary for writers!**

**Cormag: Yep! Hopefully you guys recognized some of those cameos. I know I only got two of them, and one of them I put in. Please review, it's like getting an Elixer from an ally in the middle of twenty archers!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Cookies: Hell yeah it's Kingdom Hearts!**

**Ace: I'll give a hint: Freddy's from another 3ds game, one that has a small but growing fandom that I still haven't finished and is made by ATLUS. I am rather shocked you actually got all those right.**

**Sol: Honestly, we only have a vague idea ourselves. We have a fair outline but other than that we're just winging it.**

**Chasti: Well, he's in Smash now, so he's more viable than the others. Woo charts!**

**Pyro: We still don't have any supports set yet, but I will admit I like writing those two. I also like writing scenes with Nocht and Artemis, however, so who knows. I may even pair him with one of the OCs.**

**Disclaimer: If we owned Fire Emblem, we would have made this an actual game and probably would have gotten sued by Disney, Square, and ATLUS for it.**

**XXXXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

I woke up to the sound of the door creaking open. I blinked, taking in my unfamiliar surroundings as I felt a stiffness in my beck. What happened? Oh right, I was still on the chair in the room of a certain red headed girl who seemed intent on using me as a teddy bear.

Artemis stood in the door, "You guys up? We were starting to wonder why you never went back to your room, Nocht. Well, except for Reno and Hawke, who were taking bets on whether or not you two would be clothed when I entered. ...Actually, they were taking bets on how much you two had taken off, not even giving you the benefit of a doubt." I'm going to kill those two later. Scratch that, I'm going to kill Hawke, Reno may have awful magic resistance, but that doesn't mean much against him.

"Tell them they both owe me money, since they were wrong and I actually kept it in my pants. They could also call it a fee for angering the guy who will choose where they are placed on the battlefield in a few years. It's a pretty major discount, seeing as the cost would usually mean death."

"Serves them right, I suppose." She probably wouldn't give me as much leeway normally, but she most likely found their gambling to be rather profane in this case.

"Oh hey, mornin' Artemis, Nocht." Jett yawned lazily. "Wai- Nocht? What are you doing here? Get out!" She started beating me with her pillow while Artemis sat there laughing.

"Hey, Artemis, could you help here?" I said, struggling to get the words out between blows. While the pillow strikes weren't exactly strong, they were all aimed at my face, making it difficult for me to talk.

Artemis sighed, giving up her amusement to speak to Jett. "Jett? Remember last night? We passed out, so Perseus and Nocht carried us to our rooms."

"That doesn't explain why he's still in here!"

"That's because you used me as a freaking teddy bear!"

"You could have broken out!"

Artemis chimed in, "You and I both know how weak Nocht is."

"Hey!" I shouted indignantly.

"It's not our fault you can't be bothered to go to the gym." Jett replied.

"You guys are so mean to me." I whined as I walked out the door. "I'll go to people who appreciate me!"

"None of us do." Jett deadpanned.

"Good point." I said as I walked out the door.

XXXXXXX

Reno pov

Today was our first day of flight training. While the others were completely new to the field, this was my natural habitat. Where normally I would sleep in an extra five minutes and then rush out the door, today I was showered, dressed, and ready to go before any of the others. After what seemed to be hours, but was probably just minutes, the others got ready and we left. Nocht seemed rather angry about the bet Hawke and I made earlier, maybe I'll give him some gold later as a peace offering, although he'll have to stop throwing me at everything in exchange.

When we got into the training room, I saw a familiar face. One that I wasn't sure whether to be excited or angry about.

"Hello class, I'm certain a few of you have met me already, but for those who have not, my name is Shulk. While I am one of the personal instructors, I also work in the science labs and as you can see, I am the flight instructor. This is not due to our small army of a staff somehow being inadequate, but due to my own choices. Now it's time to lecture half of your class. You will not attend any of your other classes, as flight training days take over the entire class schedule for the day. Is everybody feeling it?"

Nocht yawned before muttering, "Really feeling it." He must not have gotten a proper amount of sleep last night, which may impede his job as navigator. Oh well, I can help fill the gaps, which probably won't be that big considering he's already training as a tactician, which will make the job much easier for him.

"Now before we begin, are there any questions?" Shulk asked. I raised my hand. "Yes, Reno?"

"Can we just get to the hands-on part of the class?"

"Ah, I can see you're ready to go, alas the future isn't yours. Not everyone here has your experience, so we must at least go over the basics of flight. Now, as some of you may know, the gun systems on a ship each have four guns, each with a different element. Turrets fire wind magic rapidly at the cost of fire power, and are considered the best in the case of an ambush. Railguns fire massive blasts of thunder magic, and are good for attacking a single large ship or sniping enemies from a distance. Missile launchers fire powerful but inaccurate dark magic at a moderate pace, and are good for ending a dogfight quickly against a well armored ship. Finally, heat seekers fire weak blasts that are almost guaranteed to hit, and are very useful in a dogfight against a quick enemy that you just can't shake off. Any questions so far?"

Hawke raised his hands, "What about fire magic, sir?"

"Well, although magic is probably the most well rounded magic, as well as the best to use against vessel in which certain components may be flammable, but there is one key issue; there is no oxygen in the vacuum of space, meaning that the fire would die out almost instantly. However, fire can be a very useful tool once you have boarded a ship, allowing you to set fire to key components and make the battlefield even more chaotic for your adversaries. Now, onto the tasks of a navigator…"

XXXXXXX

After an exceedingly long lecture, we got into the ship. As soon as we were in the airzone, we were assaulted by drones in the middle of an obstacle course.

"Okay, now normally this would be Artemis' job but since it's our first time I'll take over!" I said from behind the main controls. "Jett, see if you can disable or overtake any of the drones, I assume you have some experience with hacking?"

"A thief can't get by these days without knowing how, even most chests are blocked by security codes. I'm better at disabling, but I have taken over a couple of security bots in my time."

"Perfect. Nocht, monitor the drones' positions so I have an idea of where to go, since I can only see straight forward from here. Hawke, just keep calm and shoot fucking everything, Victoria, you make sure that all bolts are tightened and nothing's burning. Artemis, you just sit there and look pretty, since I'm stealing your job."

"Sounds fun." She grumbled from the captain's chambers.

The course was fairly simple, although that may just be due to my experience. The drones closed in, with Hawke dispatching a few as I maneuvered as quickly as possible to gather some distance. Before I knew it, we were down to one drone, but not for very long.

Breaking the intended course, I rose into the air before flipping to go through back through the hole we had come through. As the ship exited, I did a corkscrew before returning to base position.

"Hell yeah! Let's go again!" Hawke yelled with glee.

"Guess being in the space pirates must teach you a thing or two about flying." Nocht said, sounding satisfied.

"Oh gods, where's the trashcan?" Artemis said in a sick-sounding voice.

The excitement of victory didn't last for very long.

"Now those drones were a fairly simple challenge for all of you to get your feet wet with," Shulk began. "But drones usually are only a supplement to large ships, the real enemies."

"Ship at the rear!" Nocht yelled, and I immediately charged out.

"Hawke, switch to the railgun! We'll need the fire-er, thunderpower! Jett! try to hack some of the drones, overtake them don't disable them!" I kicked it into gear, swiftly maneuvering through the numerous twists and turns of the obstacle course. I spun and flipped my way through various holes, figuring that the machine was only scaled to go up against beginners.

I couldn't have been more wrong. The machine must have been scaled to the opposing ship's skill level, meaning my fancy flying would get us screwed over. Hawke's attacks were more accurate than I had expected, but they weren't nearly enough to out do the rapid blasts from the ship's turrets nor the hordes of drones flying towards us.

Even worse, since it was taking my ability as if my skills were the average of every team member, the ship was way more than what I could have taken on. It would take a miracle to get out of this one.

Suddenly, our miracle came as the drones began attacking each other. It seemed as if they were hac- ...wait. "Jett, you've been holding out on us!"

"Well, I picked up a few tricks during a heist, but I was just randomly typing those in hoping one was standard for this device."

So she just did that on sheer luck? What the hell?

"Well, not sure if we can count that as a win, but oh well. On three!" We all cheered together.

XXXXXXXX

"Very nice," said Shulk as we stepped out of the ship.

Reno grinned proudly, "What can I say, I'm one of a kind."

"Shut...up," Artemis said quietly, clearly very sick.

"Airsickness is a sign of weakness," said Reno with a wide smirk. Not like Artemis could do anything about his jibes. Not in this state.

"I...will...beat you," whispered Artemis. She suddenly ran away from the group, presumably somewhere to throw up.

"As a first time, you did very well. I'm not sure how much was your handicap," Shulk gestured to Reno who merely high fived Hawke. "But you did well none the less. You won't need help with the flying aspect. But as for coordinating your plan of attack, that needs work."

"Our captain to be was a bit...indisposed," Hawke said, gesturing to where Artemis had been standing.

Shulk thought for a moment, then nodded, "Fair enough. Next time, we're going to skip lectures and have each of you practice flying just in case Reno gets killed."

"Nonsense, I can't be killed," Reno insisted.

"If you do, it'll probably be from one of Nocht's plans," muttered Perseus.

Nocht proceeded to groan as every other teammate agreed with the Advocate.

XXXXXXXXX

The rest of the team left, but Reno hung around.

"Reno? What's up?" Shulk said while examined the ship that the team had just flown.

"How'd I actually do? From an expert's point of view."

"Just as I expected. I can see the future after all. But you fly better than most graduates. Granted, they aren't as old as you, but they still are behind by a sizable margin," Shulk said, scratching his chin.

Reno nodded. He'd noticed that his skills were a bit rusty. He'd need practice, "Anyway you can help me on improving?"

There was a gleam in Shulk's eye, "I think so. I suppose I saw what you saw. Had you been any later on that final turn, you would have suffered multiple shots to the left engine. You would have been crippled, and soon destroyed afterwards."

"Good thing I'm so badass it didn't matter," Reno shrugged, oozing cockiness.

Shulk ignored the remark, "Yes, I can train you. I'll let you know a time as soon as I find some."

"Can't you just see the future and tell me?" Reno asked.

Shulk rolled his eyes and went about his business.

XXXXXXX

Nocht pov

I stood calmly preparing my magic for my sparring match. In front of me was a girl with long, messy pink hair and dull green eyes. She was rather small, with scars all over her and a mark on her neck showing her as a manakete branded. For some reason or other, she also happened to be wearing a pair of fake glasses.

This was the tactician in training for the Feroxi group, Mimika Gersh. I felt like I needed to get a grasp of the skill others had so I could see where exactly I stand. Seeing as Mimika came from Ferox, which was known for its competitive atmosphere and massive warrior class, the girl seemed to be the perfect opponent. I would try to use anima as much as possible, although I still didn't have a full grasp of the branch.

Mark announced the countdown for the spar. I hung back for a second to see what she would do. "Let's light it up!" She said as she launched a ball of fire at me.

The attack was almost completely on point, and I barely managed to dodge in time. I felt the flames lick at my skin as it went by. Had this been an actual battle, I would probably have obtained some second degree burns, maybe third, depending on how much she held back. I guess that was only to expect from the descendant of a fire dragon.

I immediately responded with a round of my own thunder spell. Mimika seemed to have been slightly slower than the typical tactician, while I was a little more accurate. While I didn't get a game ending blow or anything, I did hit her leg, causing her to twitch slightly as she cast her next spell.

"Let's see if you make decent tinder!" Mimika said as I was met with a wall of fire. While I was fast, that didn't mean much when there was no way to dodge. Immediately seeing that I would be hit, I launched a round of flux at the spell, making an opening just wide enough to get through.

Seeing that I had the advantage of the magic triangle, Mimika pulled out a blaster pistol and started firing in quick succession. Right, she was a Firearms Expert, just like Hawke. I dodged three lasts before feeling a small ball of fire hit my arm. While my magic resistance was better than Reno or Artemis, it was still a little subpar, so the attack did a fair amount of damage.

I launched multiple blasts of wind at Mimika. I only had a basic amount of skill with the branch, but it was easily the best choice for me to use. Thunder and dark magic were both too slow to get decent hits in time, fire was also out since I had absolutely no experience with the branch, and who in the realm of the dragons has heard of a Fellblood who can use light magic?

She only managed to dodge a couple of the attacks, most of them grazed her while one left a rather nasty looking mark on her arm. She responded with a massive ball of flame that I barely managed to block even with the assistance of my flux spell.

Dying Blaze. The spell was one that most units stopped using after they had become experienced due to the fact that it could only be used a few times in a single battle. Despite this, the spell could get weaker magic users out of some rather sticky situation. Without the magic triangle, the attack would rip right through my guard. Despite the dangers of using this spell, Mimika wore a gleeful smile as she threw it at me.

Another ball came, and this time I was only able to block a portion of the spell, with the rest burning through me. The battle seemed to have tipped in Mimika's favor.

Mimika probably couldn't cast the spell more than once more. If I dodged, then I would be able to overtake her quickly in her current state, but I was in no condition to dodge the attack, and I wouldn't last another blow myself. If she got the first strike in, it would be over. However, there was one thing that Perseus told me that stuck in that moment.

I charged, pulling out my practice blade, which was shaped like a killing edge. The blade wasn't anything like the real deal, but it had a similar weight for me to get used to. Dying blaze had too slow of a cast time to be used against a moving target, which was another reason the spell was rarely used in actual combat situations. I could also handle another strike, which was evidenced by the fact that I took a glancing hit across the ankle from her blaster.

I lifted my blade, bringing it up to Mimika's neck, and at the same time she pointed her spell at my face.

"It's a draw!" Mark yelled, signaling the end of the match.

Mimika and I both exchanged a glance and a 'Good match' as we nearly collapsed onto the arena floor, helping each other stay up. With a great effort, we managed to find seats in the arena, where Perseus and Agnes came to heal our wounds.

Agnes coached Perseus as he went, showing him ways to save energy while healing us faster. "I thought you were simply teaching Perseus light magic?" I questioned.

"Well, I know a lot of light magic, but healing magic was the first branch I learned. I began as a white mage, which is very similar to a cleric, then became a spiritmaster, which can best be compared to a bishop. I also know black magic and ritualism." So she can use every branch of magic I assume? I guess that also means that she doesn't have much in the ways of strength and physical defense, seeing as she wouldn't have had much need to build up her body.

Corvo also appeared. "That was a good match. If it had come down to pure power, then Mimika would have one hands down, but you had the wit to bring it to a draw, Nocht. It may not feel as good as if you won, but you have cunning, and that's worth a lot in its own right. I would know, since I only have about the strength of a class three enemy myself. My swordsmanship is good, but my shooting leaves little to be desired and my only offensive magic barely matches an Elwind. Despite this, I have auxiliary abilities, and that's enough for me to get by." A small rat scurried towards him before climbing up to his shoulder. Corvo merely began to stroke the creature as if it were a cat.

"How powerful are you instructors anyway?" I asked, as I had been curious about the matter since I met Neku.

"At worst around a high four and at best about a mid-five, although it's difficult to gauge since our styles are rather unorthodox. We are powerful and make a dangerous team, but none of us are forces of nature by any means, except maybe Shinjiro, Shulk and of course, Dean Beowolf. Although considering what I know of the 'pact' Neku and Roxas made, they may even be stronger than Beowolf when put together." Corvo shudders "And I've certainly never met anyone who could hold a candle to Beowolf."

"Good job!" Jett came, appearing out of thin air.

I jumped, "Where did you come from?"

"I may have gotten a little stealth practice from Corvo." The girl said with a grin on her face.

Oh gods. I'm screwed, aren't I?

**XXXXXXXX**

**AAaaaaaaand now we have one of the OC's introduced way earlier than I initially planned. She won't show up much yet since we're still not in the main story, just the Academy arc. We also gave a bit of an idea of what some of the cameos can do for those that don't know, so that's good. See ya next time, and remember to stop, drop, and review!**

**Cormag: Well, most of this chapter was Shadow. I really didn't do anything except two small scenes. That probably means I'm going to have to make whatever fight scene I write next to be epic.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chasti: Yay for making people stay up late!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

In the morning, our team was called up into the gym for some unknown reason. I didn't wonder about whatever we were being brought in for, I merely braced myself for what would probably be a day of hell. At this point, I wouldn't have been surprised if Beowolf revived Grima himself just to see if the student body could take him on. That would actually have been pretty interesting, although I may only have though that because I was one of his descendants.

When we reached the gym, we saw Zack standing next to Beowolf, the two holding out papers presumably for us. In the distance, I could see our instructors whose expressions ranged from worried, nonchalant, to downright excited for what seemed to be happening.

"Okay, what is this, and was it really worth cutting down an entire forest?" Reno asked in a voice that was half mocking and half serious as he looked at the thick packets of paper.

"Why, it's your first exam!" Beowolf said in mock astonishment, although his smile betrayed him behind his beard "Didn't we inform you of this?"

He began handing us papers, the packets each spanning about fifteen pages. "Here's part one. This is the written portion of the exam, there will be two more portions to test your individual skill and how well you all can handle pressure."

Great, well, at least Perseus and I would ace the written portion and most of the others would get the individual performance. Artemis would probably do the best overall, since she was the most well balanced in the group.

I opened my packet and started to look at the questions. They were easy to begin with, just basic history and math problems that most people with a fair level of education would be able to answer. It did not stay this way, however, as the questions grew harder and harder, changing to things that required a little extra study to learn and becoming yet more advanced, the most effective ways to wield a brave sword, the magic equations used in long ranged spells as well as those used in B-ranks and even legendary spells such as Forseti. There were even questions about the quantum mechanics that were needed to fuel ship engines and the separate components and requirements needed for one to use skills such as Lifetaker, Sol, and Astra. These were questions that students would only know a few of, namely those that they had picked up from their parents or learned in some form of training. There was something seriously off about this test, either it was scaled differently, graded on a scale, or it was a copout. That or Beowolf was in a particularly sadistic mood. Actually, judging from some of our lessons so far, that last one wasn't so farfetched.

Well, at the very least, there were two other parts to the exam, and they hopefully weren't as bad.

XXXXXXXXXX

Reno pov

"So what's the next part? Are we going to have to fight a dragon with our bare hands or something?" I asked.

Zack ignored the last part of that question "You're looking at him." He held out his massive sword in a casual battle stance, as if he was prepared to fight but knew he didn't need to really put any effort into the battle. "Does anyone want to take the first try?" He motioned around the group with his blade.

"Bring it on, pretty boy!" Hawke said, cocking his pistol with a bright grin.

"You take the first shot of course, I want you to have at least the illusion of a chance."

Hawke shot quickly, hoping to outspeed Zack's bulky weapon. Sadly, it was an extremely uneven match. Zack easily deflected the blow before moving in and crashing him with the flat of his blade. As he fell, Hawke got in a decent shot on Zack's shoulder.

Next came Perseus. Perseus waited until Zack was already prepared to strike to launch his attack and throw him off. This matchup was slightly better as Zack had less magic resistance than he did defenses against physical. Something caught my eye as the attack connected with Zack's sword, and Nocht smirked, catching on as well. As Zack blocked, his muscles bundled closer and his knuckles whitened due to recoil. While he had not done much damage, he had shown that Zack was not the super soldier we had thought him to be. Perseus quickly fell, but he arguably did better than Hawke since Hawke had only dealt damage as he was going down, and could technically be considered as 'out' by that time.

Artemis went up, unleashing a flurry of strikes, Astra, as Nocht and Jett called it. She actually managed to keep him on the defensive for a while, but was unable to hold up against Zack's stalwart offense.

Jett's fight was different. Rather than attacking, she waited and dodged Zack's strike before leaping into the air and throwing multiple knives, even managing to embed one into his shoulder. Despite this, she still fell quickly once Zack struck again.

Nocht took a more tactical approach. He charged a spell, but didn't fire until Zack came within very close range. The attack did some damage and he used the opening to get away and landed another attack. Nocht was faster and more accurate than Perseus, and his dark magic made up for the difference in their magical power. All around, he was the better offensive unit, although Perseus made up for what he lacked with his capacity for healing. While I'm currently much stronger than him, the thought of what Nocht would be able to do by the time he hit the field was almost terrifying. Despite this, not even he could withstand the onslaught that Zack unleashed.

Next was Victoria. She had the advantage of a mount, but the disadvantage. Against a normal enemy, it could have gone either way. However, Zack was completely prepared for it. As Victoria struck with her halberd, he raised his sword up, knocking the axe head high into the air. Then, in one sweeping motion he brought his bulky blade down and knocked the front wheel of her motorcycle to the side, and Victoria fell with it.

Finally, I was up. I had two advantages the others didn't: Experience and the favor of the weapon triangle. I took the first blow, albeit barely hanging on. Suddenly I felt the same strange feeling from earlier as my spear took on a golden hue. I jabbed at him, feeling my pain begin to ease a bit, then leapt back and fired a giant blast that knocked him backwards a bit.

Was that... Aether? But only lords and other great heroes have ever used that attack, how could I...

"Braver" I heard Zack mutter as he lunged with a great amount of force, snapping my spear. "Better than expected, but still not enough. Guess I can give him a break for now, though." He muttered.

"And that's the end of the second tri-"

"New spear." I interrupted in a grumble. Beowolf handed me a new one, muttered something about me suddenly growing attached to a weapon I had never used before continuing.

XXXXXXXX

Beowolf clapped his hands, "Very nice. But we still have one more segment to this test. Ready or not, we must move on."

Zack cleared his throat, "The third and final part of the exam is a gauntlet of challenges. There are seven rooms, designed by myself. For each challenge, only one team member may participate. Once a team member has participated in one challenge, they cannot participate again. Seven rooms, seven team members. A clue to each challenge is printed on the door of the room."

Just like in their combat training classes, the floor opened up and rooms sprung out of the ground. They could only enter the first one, as since it was the only option in front of them. On the door, the word 'Protect' was printed.

"Choose a team member to attempt the challenge. Remember, if they fail, this challenge is done and you move onto the next challenge no matter what. Complete as many as you can. Strategize well, good luck," Zack shouted before going wherever his viewing platform was. Reno had always wondered where that actually was.

"The way I see it," said Nocht slowly, "is that we need to play to our strengths. Example, Jett needs to do something with speed. As for Protect...I frankly don't have a clue."

"We'll be protecting something from something," Hawke said.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Jett muttered. Artemis chuckled and Perseus cracked a smile.

"We need one of us who can take hits, or dodge them," Nocht said. "So either Reno or Hawke would be the best way to go."

Hawke immediately volunteered. Reno shrugged, not caring.

"Wish me luck!" Hawke entered the door with his usual cockiness.

XXXXXXXXX

Hawke walked into the room alone. Clearly every room had some sort of simulator qualities, because Hawke was standing on what seemed like an endless bridge.

He felt a tug at his pants. The weapon specialist looked down to see a small boy tugging his pants. "What's up, kid?" Hawke said kindly.

"Can you get me to the other side?" the kid asked. "My mom is waiting over there, and I don't want her to worry..."

Hawke looked down the bridge. There was stone debris across the stone bridge. Hawke couldn't even see further than twenty yards due to the think fog.

"Sure thing kid, I'll lead the way," Hawke said, slowly picking up on what this challenge was. He was going to protect this kid from...something.

Hawke led the way for about seven seconds before he was pushing the kid down behind the debris as gunfire ambushed their ears.

"Dam-, er...shoot!" said Hawke angrily. He pulled out his pistol and instinctively waited.

Then he realized there was no plan from Nocht coming. Hawke had grown so accustomed to them that it was instinct to wait for one.

"Well then..." Hawke said thinking carefully. "Kid, wait here. Don't move unless I tell you to."

The boy nodded and Hawke peeked over their hiding place. He scoped out a suitable place for safety while he could attack. Taking a deep breath, Hawke jumped the chunk of stone and dashed while firing to his spot.

Hawke made it. But now he could hear the shots whizzing by and hitting his hiding place. The weapons specialist managed to get off a shot or two, unable to see in the thick fog.

"I'll have to rely on speed," muttered Hawke to himself. "But what about the kid? He isn't that fast..."

There was no choice, Hawke would have to chance it, "Oi! Kid, run to me!"

The kid looked up and saw Hawke waving to him. Smiling, the boy ran around the debris and raced toward Hawke.

Immediately, the gunfire increased. "They can see!" groaned Hawke. He jumped from his hiding place to give the kid coverfire. It didn't last long, the gunners focused their shooting on Hawke and as good a shot as Hawke was, he couldn't see through fog nor could he defend against this many enemies.

A shot hit Hawke in the shoulder, causing him to flinch back. Almost instantly after, he was hit in the stomach by another shot. The force of the attacks caused Hawke to trip and fall to the ground, where a third blast hit him where the sun didn't shine, Hawke was down.

The entire room went black. No more gunshots, no more fog, no more little kid. Hawke looked up, attempting to recover from that last hit.

"Here," Zack extended his hand to Hawke who grabbed it gratefully. "These tests are meant to fail students. Don't worry, very few pass. Come with me."

It didn't really make Hawke feel any better.

XXXXXXXXX

The door labeled Protect opened. Reno looked up, expecting to see Hawke walking out triumphant.

No one walked out.

"I forgot to mention, when a teammate finishes a challenge, better or worse, they do not rejoin the group. You must be able to tactically adapt to your current team and work with the skillset you have at the moment at all times," said Zack's voice over the intercom. "And Hawke failed, he will be watching from the observation deck along with the rest of you once you pass or fail."

It made sense to Reno, though now his favorite person on the team was behind the scenes. Booooooring.

The six cadets walked through the room. It was black, giving no indication of what Hawke's challenge had been. They opened the door that was the exit of the first room. Upon exiting, they entered a small area with a door in front of them again. This one said 'Avoid.'

"I think this is probably an obvious choice," said Perseus.

Jett grinned, "Wish me luck Nocht!" She blew him a kiss and he blushed. Jett laughed and opened the door.

XXXXXXXXX

Jett whistled to herself as she entered the plain room. It was a long hallway, the kind you might see in an old castle. Except the floor was tiled neatly, black and white checkerboard tiles.

Slightly puzzled, Jett took a step forward onto a white tile. As soon as she did that, a blast from a gun shot out, narrowly missing her. Jett's eyes widened, then she grinned.

The room was trapped. Probably entirely.

Jett took a gold coin from her pocket and tossed it on another white tile. The same thing happened, a gunshot. Then she did the same with a black tile, and a laser shot from the ceiling at where the tile was.

"This'll be fun," Jett cackled. She took a short breath and began jumping one by one onto each white tile, using her excellent flexibility to avoid every shot.

She hopped onto her seventh white tile.

Nothing happened.

Jett was so surprised, she gasped. An untrapped tile to trip her up? Clever Zack, very clever.

The Cutpurse leaned on the wall for a brief breather.

It took her barely a second to realize her mistake.

There was a great groaning sound, and the wall she had leaned on began to slowly move inward. Jett would be flattened if she didn't move quickly. The Cutpurse deftly began jumping recklessly from white tile to white tile. Once she only had about a third of the room left, the floor opened up.

Reacting instinctually, she performed a handspring and propelled herself over the gap. The wall was beginning to get close now.

Jett began to hurry, sweat starting to form heavily on her face. The wall was barely another Jett away from her, and Jett was so close to the end. The Cutpurse jumped, kicked off the wall and landed on the untiled area at the end of the room as the wall thumped together with the other nonmoving wall.

Jett began to laugh, adrenaline still pumping through her veins. If only Nocht had seen her do that. He was cute when he was worried.

"Yet again, you have impressed me!" Zack said with a cheery smile. "I'm expecting great things from you, Cadet Jett."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," she smirked.

XXXXXXXXX

The door opened and Reno and co. proceeded through. It was just like the other room, completely black. When they arrived at the next door, it said Power.

Nocht chuckled, "Any volunteers? This applies to most of us. Except Reno, he's weak."

Reno snorted, "You're one to talk, bookworm."

Nocht ignored Reno and looked at the rest of the team. Victoria raised her hand, "I got this."

She opened the door.

XXXXXXXXX

Victoria held her axe in one hand and rested the dangerous end on her shoulder. The room was plain, all white. Then suddenly, a column of light shot up from the floor. Einherjar.

Victoria got into a stance eagerly as she awaited her opponent.

A man stepped out of the light, his heavy boots clanking against the floor. He unsheathed his heavy sword and said in a deep voice, "Just because you're a woman, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."

Her opponent was Ike.

Shit.

The Radiant Hero brandished his sword and swung it at Victoria, releasing a swordbeam that shot alarmingly fast towards her. Victoria jumped out of the way just in time. Ike began to slowly walk toward her, and somehow that was more intimidating than if he would've charged at her.

"You may be one of the strongest heroes of legend, but you're still going down!" shouted Victoria with confidence.

Ike chuckled, "Prove it, and we'll see."

Victoria gave a loud battle cry as she charged Ike. At the last second, she jumped and prepared to bring her axe down on his head with all her might.

Ike merely raised a gauntlet and deflected the attack.

Shocked, Victoria wasn't able to land on her feet. She hit the floor on her butt and slid a little ways. Hopping up, Victoria glanced to see where Ike was.

Right in front of her.

Ike swung his golden sword at a lethal arc, which would collide with Victoria's head at its current rate.

Victoria brought up her axe and the sword hit the pole of the axe.

The two stood there, Ike trying to force his way through Victoria's defenses and Victoria just trying to stop the Radiant Hero.

"Didn't they...teach you...in school? Swords...beat axes!" Ike said and kicked Victoria in the leg.

But from all her training an experience fighting Artemis, Victoria was expecting the commonly used attack. At the last second, she jumped back letting Ike's sword crash into the ground.

Ike chuckled as he lifted the sword and rested it on one of his shoulder guards, "Nice move."

"Thanks," said Victoria with a smile.

Ike closed the distance between them in less than three seconds and began to spin around. Victoria's eyes widened as Ike began to execute a powerful attack. She brought up her axe like last time to block the attack and render it useless.

But Ike put a lot more power into this attack. Plus he'd wound up with his spin and the blade knocked aside Victoria's axe as if it were nothing. The flat of the blade knocked her to the ground.

Once she regained her senses, Ike's golden sword was at her throat.

Then he disappeared and Zack stood in his place, offering her a hand up. Victoria took it unhappily.

"Don't worry, Beowolf made these tests to show cadets that they still have a long way to go. I'm sure by time you graduate you'll be able to crush Ike," Zack said with a sympathetic smile.

XXXXXXXXX

Nocht, Reno, Perseus, and Artemis all stood by the next door. The door said Disarm.

"...I got nothing," said Reno.

"Obviously, someone will have to disarm something in the next room," Nocht said.

"I really want to punch you," said Perseus and surprisingly not Reno.

"I'll do it!" said Reno. "Not like any of you minors got any skills on me. And after I kick ass, we're all going down to Dain to one of my favorite bars!"

"We're all underage," said Artemis, frowning slightly.

"Meh, those rules are guidelines. And guidelines are for the weak," said Reno as he strolled through the door.

XXXXXXXXX

Reno should have guessed it. It was like betraying someone and then running into them the next day.

Fucking bomb sat in the middle of the room with a countdown of two minutes.

And yes, Reno had already checked for an off switch. There wasn't one.

"Fucking bombs," swore Reno. "I really want to punch Beowolf."

In his imagination, Reno could see the old manakete laughing in his chair like a little kid having just pulled off a funny prank.

Reno quickly examined the bomb, and he found two wires. Both were red and Reno couldn't decide which to cut. Because you always cut a wire to stop a bomb, that's what they did in books.

"Of all the possible challenges, why do I get the dumb one?" Reno muttered to himself.

After the clock hit thirty seconds, Reno had had enough. He took out his rifle and pointed it at the bomb. With a smirk, he said, "Looks like I'm clockin' out early."

He shot the bomb.

It exploded.

The room turned black.

"I must say, you're the first to take that route," Zack said.

"I figured since Beowolf is a crazy old man, that maybe it'd work," shrugged Reno.

"Nice try, but just shooting things doesn't always help," chuckled Zack.

"Don't know what you're talking about," said Reno.

XXXXXXXXX

Perseus and his two companions stood in front of, you guessed it, the next door. This one said Escape.

"Not it," muttered Perseus. Sounded like an athletic activity. And Perseus was an Advocate, for Naga's sake.

"Well don't look at me, I'm not better than you'd be," said Nocht.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "You better hope the next two challenges are designed for nerds like you two."

Perseus shook his head while Nocht said, "Ah ah ah! Intellectuals, thank you."

Artemis shook her head and began to open the door.

"Good luck Art," said Perseus.

Artemis glanced back at him with a smile, "I think you're the one who's going to need it."

XXXXXXXXX

Artemis scratched her neck where her brand was. This...wasn't what she expected.

There was a giant pool of lava below her. And above her an open roof with the night sky looking down at her.

And said lava was rising. Fast.

Artemis glanced around her to see some hand holds nearby. She immediately figured out what was happening and grabbed hold and started to climb.

Artemis could feel the blazing heat of the lava before long. It was rising faster than she'd expected.

The blue haired girl sped up her pace, and for a while that was sufficient.

Then the hand holds ran out.

Beginning to panic, Artemis looked around wildly, searching for another way up. There was a rope hanging down from somewhere outside of the pit she was in. All Artemis had to do was make the jump to the rope.

The jump over the very hot lava, mind you.

She took a few shallow breaths, trying to keep her nerves under control. She was scared, even if this was all fake, it felt real. Her heart was beating like it was about to burst out of her chest.

Artemis searched her mind for something to calm herself with so she could actually focus on making the jump.

Then she found a memory of her and Perseus when they had been kids. Perseus had said something important then.

_/The two kids gazed at the injured wyvern as it snapped at them. Artemis grabbed Perseus' arm and whimpered, "I'm scared, Perseus."_

_Then Perseus looked at her in that charming way he always looked at her, "That's good!"_

_"How is that good!?" Artemis asked shrilly._

_"When you're scared, you can run faster than ever before. When you're scared, you can fight harder than ever before. When you're scared, you can think far quicker than when you're calm. Being scared is a superpower. You think he's scared?" Perseus pointed at the wyvern. "Nah, he's not even the least bit. Loser."/_

Artemis snapped back to the present. She still had to escape this hellhole.

With a sense of daring that Victoria would be proud of, Artemis jumped from her hold on the wall to the rope.

She reached out for the rope...

And grabbed it!

Artemis looked at the rope in her hands and began to laugh, relieved. Then she remembered the lava and began to climb frantically.

When she jumped out of the pit, Artemis had a smile on her face.

Zack stood there waiting and clapping, "Gave me a bit of a worry when you just stopped at the end of the handholds there for a moment. Thought I might have to jump in there and grab you from getting burned."

"...You mean that was real lava?"

"Of course, what would be the challenge if it wasn't?" Zack asked, puzzled.

"And you think you could have grabbed me in time?" said Artemis, an eyebrow quirked.

"I'm very fast," said Zack, puffing out his chest.

Artemis laugh, but honestly, she was still adrenaline high and probably would have laughed at anything.

XXXXXXXXX

"Well...I believe now would be the time to swear," said Nocht.

"Should I, or would you like to?" asked Perseus.

"I'll do it. Well...shit!" said Nocht.

The door in front of them said Fly.

Reno was going to be pissed he missed this one.

"I think we must revert to an age old tactic that is even superior to throwing Reno at everything," Nocht cleared his throat.

Perseus raised an eyebrow, it wasn't everyday that Nocht said another tactic was better than his favorite.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors. Loser does the flying challenge," Nocht said.

Perseus gazed at Nocht for a few moments and got into a Rock-Paper-Scissors stance.

Because all pros know it's about the stance.

"Rock!"

"Paper!"

"Scissors!"

"Shoot!"

"Dammit!"

Perseus' paper was decimated by Nocht's scissors.

And that is the tale of how Perseus entered the door.

XXXXXXXXX

Perseus wanted to dissolve into swear words that Naga would heavily frown upon. Just as he'd expected, he was inside of a small ship.

And he had no idea how to fly it.

Oh, it looked familiar. They had practiced with it in Shulk's class. But that had been one time.

Perseus sat down in the one chair in the ship and gingerly grabbed what he remembered to be the throttle.

"Always start with thrusters at minimum," repeated Perseus. That was the only thing he could remember from Shulk's lecture. There was a reason why the Advocate wasn't a pilot. Not exactly his strong suit.

Perseus pushed the throttle forward slowly. He could feel the ship begin to move forward. Once he felt a bit more comfortable, Perseus accelerated.

"This isn't so bad," he said with a smile.

Then he saw his opponent. An enemy ship sailing toward him.

Damn.

"Guns...where are the guns!?" Perseus looked around wildly. The ship was getting very close. It began firing.

Perseus pressed a random switch.

And turned his shields off.

Had this been a real battle, Perseus would be in many, many pieces.

"I guess flying isn't your stuff, huh?" Zack said from the back of the ship.

"Excellent deduction, genius," muttered Perseus.

XXXXXXXXX

Nocht's spirits immediately soared when he saw the word on the last door.

Tactics.

He pushed open the door and walked in like a badass.

And then he saw Beowolf standing in the middle of the room, and he began to get rather nervous.

"Hello Nocht, your final opponent is me," Beowolf smirked, his beard making him very intimidating.

Nocht froze up. He wasn't ready for this.

"Do you play chess?" Beowolf said as a table began to rise from the ground with a chessboard on it.

"...What?" said Nocht, not really paying attention in the face of his imminent demise.

"Chess, do you play?" Beowolf asked.

"...Yes?"

"Good, sit down," Beowolf pointed to the other chair.

Nocht sat, "You mean I'm not fighting you?"

"You're facing me in a battle of minds. Let's see if you have what it takes," Beowolf moved one of his pawns forward.

Nocht grinned and moved one of his own. This was his turf. Tactics was his game, he would win for sure.

Beowolf just smiled a knowing smile.

And long story short, Nocht got his ass handed to him. And grilled by manakete fire. ...Figuratively, of course.

XXXXXXXXX

Once Nocht finished his challenge, or failed as Reno preferred, they instructors individually congratulated their respective student.

"Your team better than we expected. The average team fails every challenge, maybe succeeds in one. But here you guys go, passing two," Shulk smiled.

Reno shrugged, "Doesn't really matter, I failed."

"You got stuck with a bad hand of cards. Next time you'll have better luck," Shulk said as the two began drifting away from the rest of the group.

"Not like you weren't expecting it, seeing the future and all," Reno said. "Wish I could do that, seems like a pretty useful thing to be able to do."

Shulk frowned, "Just because I can see the future, doesn't mean I have the power to change it."

"But you've got forewarning, that means you can prepare for what's to come," Reno said.

"Not...always," Shulk muttered.

Reno heard him, "What do you mean?"

Shulk was quiet for a few moments, then he said, "Let me tell you a story Reno. The story of a foolish young boy who was too weak to save his friends."

Reno frowned as Shulk began.

"Several years ago, I saved my world from a catastrophe. And I couldn't have done it without the six others that accompanied me. And for a year or two, life was peaceful. Then Beowolf came. He landed in this spaceship. My world wasn't capable of travel between planets yet. When he asked me if I wanted to come along, how could I refuse? I'm a scientist, and I was being given the chance to explore the stars. It was like giving candy to a four year old," Shulk chuckled, his eyes shining with memories of the past.

His face then darkened, his wistful smile turning into a look of despair, "A year passed. I never went back, I was enjoying myself too much. But then the Manado," Shulk gestured to the sword on his back, "sent me a vision. It was of my home world burning. Something was destroying it. But what I specifically saw were my six friends, all dying individually."

Shulk chuckled with dark humor, "Funny how it took a vision of the moment my friends needed me to get me back. I took a spaceship and flew it as fast as I could back home. But...I wasn't quick enough. Riki, Melia, Sharla, Reyn...all dead. Only Dunban and Fiora were left. But that wasn't meant to be, the moment I hopped out of my ship I saw Dunban take a killing blow for his sister."

"And then...whatever it was, it hit Fiora. She was knocked back towards me, beaten and bloody. The woman I had come to love, dying in front of me. And there was nothing I could do. No future vision, no magic, not anything. And then I did what any coward would do, run away."

"I used to blame Beowolf, but it wasn't his fault. It was mine for leaving in the first place. I should have been there to fight alongside them. I should have been able to save Fiora," Shulk clenched his fists tightly. Reno could tell he was holding back tears. "I guess I should count myself lucky, some of the others had it worse. But then again, some of the others had it better as well."

Shulk blinked several times, then looked Reno in the eye and said, "Trust me, seeing the future isn't an advantage. There's nothing worse than seeing someone you love die and knowing it was coming. And even though you knew, there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it." Shulk walked away from Reno, leaving the pilot to think about what he'd just heard.

XXXXXXXXX

"We should do something to celebrate!" Jett said to Nocht in a rare moment that they were alone.

"Celebrate our failure?" asked Nocht. He was still pissed Beowolf had beaten him. Chess was his thing! He should have had it easy.

But then again, the headmaster did have a few thousand years on him.

"No silly, celebrate the end of our first exam!" announced Jett proudly.

"I'll ask the others what they think," Nocht smiled.

"Um..." That wasn't really what Jett had in mind. More like her and Nocht, landing on a planet and spending their next few days off together...

"Something wrong?" Nocht asked.

"Well..." Jett puzzled over how to word it. "I was kinda hoping it'd be us two?"

Nocht didn't react. Then he looked puzzled, "Why?"

"Because...it'd be more fun?" Jett said, hoping he'd just accept the answer.

But this was Nocht she was talking about, "Doesn't the saying go, 'The more the merrier?'"

"I guess...but since we make such a great team, I was thinking we could just go alone? We wouldn't need any of the others," Jett said, hoping Nocht would nod and agree.

"Isn't Hawke part of our team of three though?" Nocht asked.

"Yeah...but two's company, three's a crowd, you know?"

"..." Nocht scratched his chin. "I'm sorry, I'm not getting it."

"For gods' sakes!" Jett shouted in frustration and kissed Nocht forcefully.

Not like Nocht minded.

When they broke apart, Jett glared at Nocht, "Now listen here, I'm going to leave. I expect you to ask me out on a date in the next hour, got it!?"

Nocht nodded, not sure how to react. Eh, fear and happiness generally weren't hard to choose from, "Yes ma'am."

"Good!" Jett said, back to her smiley self again. Then she left Nocht to puzzle over what they were going to do on their date that he still needed to ask her on.

**XXXXXXX**

**Well, that was an interesting test, huh? For those of you who have been asking how long the academy section will be: not much more, but we can't tell you exactly how much.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Reviews:**

**Chast:I kinda wanted to do that, but there would be no student body left.**

**Disclaimer: we do not own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXX**

(3 years later)

"Father!" Artemis said warmly upon walking through the front doors of the large house.

Ken'su, Artemis' father, smiled and embraced his daughter, "Artemis! 'Tis a pleasure to see you! Your mother will displeased for missing you. Next time give us a bit more of notice before you visit!"

Artemis chuckled, "Will do father."

Ken'su smiled. He was about forty and as Artemis put it, 'Still alive and kicking.' He was tall and had long black hair that reached his waist.

"So tell me, how's the academy?" Ken'su eagerly asked.

"It's amazing!" Artemis said immediately. She blushed, composed herself and continued, "I love it there. Especially the people there."

Ken'su scratched his head, "Didn't you know half of the people on your team before going there?"

"Oh, hush father," Artemis said with a slight smile.

Ken'su laughed, "What kind of training do they do there?"

"Zack has a fondness for random challenges, ranging from dodging lasers to fighting famous Einherjars," Artemis said.

"Hmph," Ken'su grunted. "Back in my day, we didn't have any of that fancy stuff. We'd be thrown into a sea of water wyverns and told to survive. Then we'd have to swim to shore. And fight bandits! And you know what? We were grateful!"

Artemis sighed, "Father, you're only forty."

Ken'su deflated a bit, but still smiled, "Got me there. But someone actually did that a few years ago to prove me wrong that it couldn't be done."

"Really? Did they live?" Artemis asked curiously.

Ken'su snorted, "Of course he did. You can't kill Zack like that."

"Zack did that?" Artemis asked, amazed.

"Yep. He's had a bit of a fondness for wyverns after that. A bit scary if you ask me," Ken'su said.

Artemis laughed and her father cracked a smile.

"I know you didn't drop by to visit just to hear me ramble! Come! We must see Falchion before anything else," Ken'su declared.

Artemis rolled her eyes. She couldn't wield the sword. She'd tried before, but the blade had been heavy in her hand, just like it was in her mother's. Technically, she could swing it, but it weighed more than five swords. Highly impractical, and fairly worthless.

"Father, is that really necessary? Must I be reminded that I can't wield it again?" Artemis groaned.

"Bah! This'll be the day you can wield it, I can sense it with my senses!" Ken'su declared.

"What senses? The ones you trained by fighting sea wyverns?" grumbled Artemis quietly.

Ken'su led her on the familiar route through her house to the sword of legend. Her family was the only with direct blood lineage to the line of Exalts. Traditionally, Falchion had been wielded by someone from her family. Could another distant relative wield it? Probably, but her family had long been a stickler for tradition.

Ken'su and Artemis came to a closed door. Ken'su reached for the necklace around his neck. On the chain was a key that fit the lock on the door. The swordmaster swung the door open and Artemis followed him through.

In the center of the room was a circular pedestal. Falchion stood in the middle, secured at the pommel so it wouldn't fall over. Two rings surrounded it, one at the guard and the other right below the tip.

"Go on," Ken'su said eagerly. He got like this whenever Artemis was going to try. It wasn't even his sword! The man was Chon'sinian for Naga's sake!

But he was her father, and Artemis had to humor him.

Just like every time, Artemis walked up to the pedestal and looked at Falchion. She reached down an grasped the hilt of the sword. She tried lifting it.

Heavy.

Sighing, Artemis was about to set the sword back down when the blade began glowing blue! Mystified, Artemis let go of the sword. The blue glow died.

"...Try again," Ken'su said.

Artemis nodded distractedly and grabbed the hilt. She tried lifting the sword.

It was as light as a feather.

The two rings surrounding the sword folded up and collapsed into the pedestal. Artemis held the sword in front of her, stunned. She gave it a few experimental swings like she'd been using it all her life.

She glanced at her father. Ken'su smirked, "Told you."

XXXXXXXXX

Reno yawned lazily as he walked the streets on Dain. It'd been a few months since the last visit, and it was high time for another visit. Had to make sure the old man hadn't went senile.

But first a drink.

Reno pushed the sunglasses down from his forehead over his eyes. Since they were computerized, Reno used them to locate the closest bar.

Upon finding said bar, Reno walked in with a smile an swagger that made him belong there. None questioned you when you looked like you knew what you were doing. The trick to the universe was confidence.

Just as he was about to sit down at the bar, he glanced at one of the news screens up in the bar. It showed a news bulletin about several captured Space Pirates.

And they were being executed. Publically. But it was taking place on Hezul, so that made sense. Hezulians were all a violent bunch.

But what really made Reno lose his desire to drink was when he caught the name of the ship that they'd been captured from, The Interloper. That had been his ship. Thankfully, it seemed the majority of the crew had escaped. And Reno only vaguely recognized those who were being killed.

Sickened, Reno left the bar.

It took him a while to get to Gramps' house. What if it had been one of Reno's friends being killed on that screen? Reno shuddered.

It could have been her.

Reno blotted out that image as he arrived at the house he'd lived in a few years ago.

"Yo! Gramps, I'm home! For a bit, at least," Reno said.

"Boy?" came a raspy voice from the back of the main room.

Reno's eyebrows furrowed as he walked toward his gramps' voice. The old man sat in his favorite chair, but he didn't look well.

"Gramps, you all right?" Reno said, some concern slipping into his voice.

"Never mind about me boy, how's the academy? How's the money lasting?" he asked.

"The academy's fine. Money's tight, had to pawn my watch recently. But I'm surviving. But are you okay? You don't seem so swell," Reno said.

"Boy...I won't be in this world much longer. But don't fret, everything will be fine," Gramps reassured.

I wasn't going to, Reno thought. "I'm sure you're exaggerating."

Gramps shook his head, "Before you leave, I have something to tell you."

Reno nodded expectantly. He had some suspicion of what it might be.

"Reno...you're really twenty years old."

Reno stood there silently for a few moments before, "What the FUCK?"

The old man began cracking up, "Ha! Got you good boy! I haven't the faintest how old you are, just keep doing whatever flies your spaceship. But in all seriousness, I have something to tell you."

Reno tapped a foot impatiently.

"Reno...your mother, my daughter, was a pilot. Just like you are. I never got a chance to tell her before she died, but she had the blood of the Crusader Dain. And she passed that on to you," Gramps said.

Reno nodded, "I was expecting that. Some crazy stuff happened at the academy. I figured it was something like that. But what does that mean?"

Gramps chuckled, "You aren't a king if that's what you're thinking. That's primitive stuff, ruling because of bloodlines, we of Dain don't work like that. However, wielding Gungnir wouldn't be out of the question. And you will certainly earn massive respect from the pilots of Dain outright. But I should warn you, no one knows about us two. As far as the public is aware of, the line of Dain vanished from record one hundred years ago. We're the last two left to my knowledge."

Reno scratched his chin, "So this is my secret, I don't have to have everyone bowing down to me?"

Gramps nodded and Reno smirked, "Then it's my secret. And I don't plan to tell anyone."

Gramps shrugged, "It's your choice. Just so long as you pass on the bloodline. Letting a Holy Weapon's line die out would be very bad. And I'm not going to last long. Soon, you'll be last of Dain's descendants. Don't screw it up."

"Aw Gramps, you care about me!" Reno laughed. "Now I only came by for a brief visit to make sure you weren't crazy and killing people. I have to take a few academy buddies and teach them the true meaning of drinking! And boy, this'll be fun. Perseus and Hawke getting drunk will be a blast."

XXXXXXXX

Today was the day of our graduation. We were all called up team by team, to be presented before the younger students as well as anyone who came as spectators. These ranged from parents to high ranking military officers to even mercenary leaders who wished to hire some fresh blood, a practice that was surprisingly ignored by the military in most cases. I looked at the other members of our group. There were few changes between us, although the few there were held great effect.

Artemis had grown in her leadership skills, now becoming a great source for morale, if a poor one for strategy. As if sensing this, the Falchion had accepted her after three years of quiet.

Nocht had changed drastically. Physically, the only changes were his hair, which he had grown out to reach his shoulders and tied in a ponytail after he lost a bet with Artemis and had to try the Chon'sin style, and his eyes, which now held a very dull look, although Jett could brighten them a bit.

Emotional changes, however, were very prominent in Nocht. At the end of his first year he was sent to defend a small asteroid village from brigands. While he managed to drive the bandits out, he couldn't save the villagers, and blamed himself for the casualties, as he was the tactician. When he came back, he held onto Jett for hours, refusing to let go until he had fallen asleep. After the event, he began to train as much as possible, both physically and mentally, in order to prevent such things from happening again. He had become much more cold and calculating, like some of the veteran space pirates had after years of war. He chose to take all casualties upon himself, even if they were due to unforeseeable causes. He had become terrifying in two ways: his stability could crumble if too many more blows hit him, and his training had made him one of the most dangerous men I had ever met, even if he was nowhere near the most powerful.

Beowolf began to speak to the crowd about our group and our achievements, but the only part that really stood out to me was when Beowolf referred to me as the 'Wyvern-less Wyvern Lord' which, while accurate, still pissed me off.

As the other groups had gone already and could be considered 'graduated', Beowolf made a special speech just for us. However, as Beowolf began the speech he was interrupted by the sound of ships landing. Some flew overhead, dropping soldiers on us, while other troops could be heard battling outside the gates. Mimicka's team was most likely in the fray there, and possibly the other graduating team.

Groups that were in the bleachers were being combated by the younger students and the teachers, allowing the battle there to be relatively easy, although still dangerous due to the fact that there may be a few civilians in the crowd. Luckily, those were probably vastly outnumbered by the number of military officials.

On our end, however, there were a little less than thirty soldiers right in front of the mere seven of us.

"Twenty seven troops, that's three point eighty five each, or about four." Nocht began in a near monotone "It will be about fifteen seconds before the first ones arrive at us if we stand still, eight if we charge as well. Good luck, and try to keep yourselves alive." Nocht said as his voice softened. "At the very least, we'll be able to say we took out a fair portion of enemy soldiers, assuming all goes well. This attack will certainly be considered a declaration of war." Nocht's expression shifted, going from a worried frown to a small smirk before he charged into the new fray.

XXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

I was the first to reach the enemies, the others taking a bit longer to join the fray, likely still recovering from the shock of the academy being attacked. The first opponent I came in contact with was a mage.

The mage sent a bolt of lightning at me, which I quickly deflected with a simple flux spell. I closed in, drawing the killing edge I kept at my hip. With a slash, I slit the mage's throat, and the man fell. As the mage crumpled over, I saw another moving towards me at a swift pace.

Before I could react, a myrmidon had leapt past me, landing a fairly large gash on my shoulder. I rushed at him, sliding past his guard and clutched the myrmidon's face for a point blank Nosferatu spell. I felt my wounds healing as I sapped the man's life force, and threw the myrmidon into Hawke's firing range. The myrmidon was weakened greatly by the spell, and was unable to do anything to get out of the way before Hawke fired his rifle, getting a perfect shot to the head. The man's skull cracked open in a semi explosion, and some of his blood splattered on my cheek.

I surveyed the area, seeing that there were now only about fifteen troops standing against us. However, our squad had sustained several wounds, and Perseus was unable to heal them properly as he was being targeted as well.

With another glance, I saw something that absolutely terrified me. Jett was on her own, surrounded by enemy troops. A fighter was also joining the fray, and could easily finish her off if she got hit. Seeing as she was already tied up with two mercenaries and a dark mage, it would be a fairly simple task.

Right before the fighter could close in, a stream of Arcfire collided with him, melting him to the bone. Standing at the origin point of the spell was Mimicka, and together she and Jett had no issue defeating her foes.

Our enemies were cleared out, and Perseus began to heal everyone. Mimicka had the worst injuries, which was really only to be expected. Perseus started off with her, asking "Where are your teammates?"

Mimicka began to weep, her adrenaline leaving her "They fell at the gate." She began to say something else, but her words were lost within her sobs.

However, we were to learn what she had been trying to say as a large squadron of soldiers poured in through the gates. No wonder they had fallen, even after fighting fourteen graduates, there were still about eighty of them. There was no chance we would be able to take them on alone, especially in this condition.

"Deathbound" A familiar voice muttered. Shinjiro was standing next to us, surrounded by blue flames and crushing something in his hand. Another being burst out of his skull, in the form of a knight in black armor on top of a mechanical horse. A blast of energy erupted from the knight's body, cutting down a few of the soldiers. As the attack connected, Shinjiro winced in pain. It seemed the attack used his own life force to function, and he would die if he overused it.

"Just leave it to us." The voice of Zack came as he charged into the fray, cutting down enemies with his sword. "You all heal, we'll take it from here."

I looked over at Jett, who had just been healed, and I reached into my pocket. I knew the timing for this was off, but with the war that would likely arise from this it was doubtful I would get a decent chance for a long time. If I didn't do this now, then I might not get another chance. "Jett?"

"Yes?" The thief asked.

I pulled out a small black box, opening it to show a ring. "Will you marry me? Some days, you're the only reason I can get by. You-"

I was cut off as Jett kissed me. She then wrapped her arms around me, muttering a 'yes' as she rested her head against my chest.

XXXXXXXX

Up in the bleachers, as Fredericka, Agnes, Corvo, and Shulk were fighting off the soldiers while Roxas and Neku fought off their own lone foe.

The foe was a being made of pure energy who took a shape similar to that of a man in his thirties.

"Joshua? Why are you fighting us?" Neku asked the man.

"When Shibuya fell, I ended up in this world, but unlike you I found myself in ancient Ylisse. For over ten thousand years I watched as humans went through cycle after cycle of war, and the faith in humanity I had regained faded over time." The man created dual blades of light "Humanity will never prosper, it will only decline more. That is why I must erase you all myself."

Neku launched multiple bullets of black flame while Roxas charged with his blades. Joshua dodged the bullets while matching Roxas blow for blow. Roxas raised his blades to bring down a storm of light magic which Joshua knocked out of the air with his own.

Roxas merged his blades together into one massive blade, and a copy of it appeared in Neku's hands. The two rushed Joshua, striking out multiple times. With a smirk Joshua began to move at a much faster pace to deflect the blows. As the attack's energy faded, Joshua smirked and brought down a massive blast of light upon Roxas. "Axel, Xion, I'll be joining you soon." he said as he crumpled onto the ground, dead.

As Joshua recovered from the expending of energy, Neku charged, stabbing his blade into the man's spine.

"You two had formed a pack hadn't you? That means you have maybe a minute before you fade as well." Joshua pulled the blade from out of his back and tossed it onto the ground "I may have lost, but at least I'm taking you with me." The man chuckled "How fitting. The man who had restored my faith in humanity is also the one to take me down when I lose it." And with that Joshua crumpled as well.

Neku began to cough up blood "Well, I guess that's all of us. Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, Hanekoma, we're coming. I guess in the end we could never avenge you all, I'm sorry." and he closed his eyes for the last time.

The others continued their fight. "Dammit" Shulk winced "if they had held up for just a little longer then they would have survived. There are only a few to go." Within a minute, the soldiers were cleared from the bleachers "That's all of them."

Suddenly, a red blade was plunged into Shulk's back, piercing through his stomach. Shulk turned his head back weakly to see his killer. The man had shaggy black hair and grey eyes, wearing street clothes: tattered jeans, a red t-shirt with a black hoodie over it. Two black wings burst out of tears in his clothes.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you, Monado boy?" The man said with a sneer.

"The fallen angel, grand specter Grant Stahl. What...an honor," Shulk croaked out as the specter kicked him off of the blade, bringing Shulk to a swift death.

"Sadly, I won't be able to enjoy the meal you would make, but once the Plegian Empire rises I'll be able to savor a bountiful feast daily, no matter which faction prevails. The Plegians will feed me all the Ylisseans I desire while under Loptyrian rule us specters will be given freedom to eat all of the universe's humans."

A strange sound could be heard as Corvo appeared in front of Grant with his blade. Grant simply dodged the attack and grabbed the hand holding the blade. "You can take out entire squadrons of weak soldiers, but against a truly powerful foe…" Grant gave a sinister look as he brought his face right up against Corvo's "your precious Outsider can't do anything to save you, mister Attano!" Grant lowered his face towards Corvo's neck and ripped his throat out , leaving teeth marks on the corpse's neck.

"Fucking disgusting, I've eaten dark mages that tasted better than that slop." Grant spat out the chunk of flesh, a small stream of blood running down his lips, before dodging a blaster round that went his way.

Fredericka stood there, pointing her blaster at him. She quickly launched three elemental rounds, one fire, one ice, and one electric. Grant pulled out a levin sword and swung, the tendrils of magic taking out each round before piercing her arms and legs.

Before she could make another move, Grant was already swinging his sword, decapitating her.

Agnes began to launch a barrage of light magic, which Grant dodged or deflected with his own magic. Grant's slowed down with each dodge as he grew tired from the strain, but he managed to hold out until Agnes could cast no longer.

Grant charged again. He was now moving at an immensely slower pace, but that mattered little against a foe whose only remaining weapon was a staff and who had little physical strength. Grant launched an orb of dark magic, eliminating yet another target.

After defeating Agnes, Grant snuck his way out of the battlefield, unable to fight any longer. He had only survived his last encounter because of his opponents lack of physical strength. Against anyone at their full power, he would fall very quickly in his current state. As abruptly as he had appeared, the grand specter disappeared.

XXXXXXXX

Beowolf watched the carnage with despair. How had the Plegian's gotten past their security.

The Headmaster felt disgusted, the damn Plegians had picked their most vulnerable time and struck with precision. An unlikely quality for them to exhibit.

Suddenly, there was a crash to Beowolf's left. A large amount of troops began pouring in through one of the lower levels, only just arriving in the graduation hall.

Beowolf leaned forward on his cane and squinted, trying to see who was in the center of the soldier mob.

"Damn," he muttered, recognizing both people. Then Beowolf saw something worse, Nocht's team preparing to rush the enemies.

Beowolf jumped down from his vantage point and ran with the swiftness he hadn't felt in a long time towards Nocht.

"Stop," he commanded them. Beowolf's voice turned from his usual peaceful tone to a hard whip crack. "This is not your fight."

When Nocht began to protest, Beowolf shook his head, "You are to go and rendezvous with Zack and lead a counter attack. I will handle things here."

"Yes sir," Nocht said, reluctantly. He, his team and the few tag-alongs retreated.

Beowolf stood, hand resting on his cane as he watched the force approach. His manakete eyes counted at least forty, not including the two individuals in the center of the group.

"Kill him!" shouted the impulsive man. The woman next to him nodded and the soldiers began their attack.

Beowolf began to chuckle, "I may not be able to transform any more, but that does not discount me from battle!"

One swordbearing soldier got to Beowolf first before the others. Beowolf grasped the pommel of the cane, a bright green emerald, and twisted a nob right above the emerald. The Headmaster pointed the end of the cane at the swordsman and fired, a blast of energy shooting from the base of the cane.

And that was where the nob came into play. The kick of the blast pushed Beowolf back several feet. Beowolf turned the nob again, this time pointing the cane behind him, away from the soldiers, and fired. The kick was increased due to the adjustment and Beowolf shot forward into the crowd of enemies.

The manakete never stopped moving, in one fluid motion he spun the cane in his hands and sword blades shot out from either side of the metal rod. With a one handed sword in hand, Beowolf began his work.

Spinning the blade in a wide circle, Beowolf forced the thirty nine remaining enemies away from him. He jumped at the nearest, an axeman, and decapitated him.

"What are you idiots waiting for! Shoot him!" shouted the man.

Beowolf had been waiting for that, he ducked close to the ground when the initial shots began firing. Throwing the cane up in the air, Beowolf brought his arms around his face. After a few seconds, he swung them so they extended straight out. With that motion, a wave of fire shot outwards and smashed into the ten soldiers in front of him, incinerating them.

Beowolf caught the cane as in fell back to the ground, half a second after the attack. Using the momentum of the gravity from the cane's fall, Beowolf spun three hundred sixty degrees around and cut off the nearest three soldier's heads.

Beowolf brushed his yellow blond hair from his eyes. The soldiers stood warily, not attacking. All twenty four of them.

"Is this what Plegians call an army? Standards have decreased through the ages," Beowolf observed loudly.

"KILL HIM!" screamed the man.

"All talk and no show," muttered Beowolf. He grasped his metal cane-sword tightly and sent a pulse of fire magic through the cane. Beowolf spun it in his hand, and slammed it down through the floor.

Fire exploded from the contact point. The heat kissed the soldiers, melting the nearest ones' armor, killing them. Fifteen collapsed to the ground dead. Another four fell, not dead, but their armor melted enough so they were useless.

Five remaining.

These five seemed to be the smartest of the forty. They began circling Beowolf, eying him carefully.

They didn't act, so Beowolf did. He jumped at the one carrying a lance and knocked it aside, severing the man's hand from his arm at the same time. Said man collapsed to the ground, where Beowolf drove his sword through the man's heart.

Spinning on the spot, Beowolf's one blade met three others. The fourth man held up a gun, aiming directly at Beowolf.

With a quick calculation, Beowolf acted. He held back two of the swords with his, and grabbed the last man and pulled him into the pathway of the shot. Now dead, Beowolf threw the body at the other two swordsmen. They awkwardly tried to avoid it, bumping into each other. Beowolf capitalized on their confusion and practically materialized in front of them, driving a sword through both of them at the same time.

Ducking to avoid the gun shot he'd seen from during his attack, Beowolf turned and threw his cane at the last man. It stabbed him in the heart, killing him instantly.

Beowolf retrieved the cane and looked at the other two people who still stood. Brushing the hair out his eyes, he growled at them, "Like I said, do not discount me from battle."

"You surpassed my expectations, Beowolf," the woman said calmly.

"We're not here to praise him, we're here to KILL him!" shouted the man. He stood shorter than the woman, with dark red hair that snaked his face.

Beowolf laughed harshly, "And because you're royalty I should obey that? Yes, I know who you are, Gangrel II."

"You little shi-"

The woman cut him off, "Enough. We are not here for pleasantries. We are here to cripple one of the best academies in the universe and...remove its Headmaster from play."

"I'm afraid I've never gotten your name. The head of the Lopt Sect is infrequently referred to by name," Beowolf said.

"I am Than," the tall woman smiled cruelly. Her pale grey hair hung loosely at her back while her cold features stared down Beowolf.

"Pleasure to meet you both. Now that we're properly introduced, is it time to get on with it?" Beowolf asked.

"You insufferable little prick!" shouted Gangrel as he jumped at Beowolf. Just like his namesake, he held a Levin Sword, bolts of electricity radiating from the blade. It's zigzag pattern was poor for physical fighting, but perfect for transmitting bolts of thunder magic. With a slash of the sword, Gangrel launched a bolt of thunder at Beowolf.

The manakete's sword absorbed the attack, the metal perfect for conducting electricity. And the handle perfect for keeping his hand safe from the violent magic.

Beowolf closed the distance between them quickly and swung his sword at an overarching arc. Gangrel brought up his blade and blocked it, countering with a hack towards the leg. Beowolf flipped the cane-sword in his hand and deflected the strike. The Headmaster kicked at Gangrel's leg, scoring a successful hit. The Prince collapsed, his leg temporarily disabled. But his arms still were well, and he jabbed at Beowolf, sending a bolt of thunder at him.

Beowolf jumped deftly to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike. By pure chance, he turned to see Than in the middle of executing an attack with her long lance. Beowolf barely managed to get his sword up in time to block the strike. He and Than stood, face to face, trying to overpower the other.

"My manakete powers aren't working," growled Than. "You wouldn't have something to do with that, would you?"

Beowolf chuckled, "I may or may not have a trinket of high value with me that allows me to stop transformations of manaketes."

Than's eyes widened, "You have the Fire Emblem?"

Beowolf laughed, "I know its guard. He let me study it for a spell."

"But...you can't transform either then," Than deduced.

"I swore off that a long time ago," muttered Beowolf darkly. And with that, he stuck a leg out and tried the same move he'd utilized on Gangrel. It only partially worked, Than was knocked back, but she used her lance to keep herself upright.

Beowolf now found himself pressed between two competent fighters. Both stood at a distance, but they stood ready for any sudden movements.

They're afraid, Beowolf realized. They think they should fear me.

So let's show them why they should.

Beowolf lashed out at Than. She brought up her lance to block it and any other further attacks, but Beowolf was already moving on. He spun on the spot and stabbed at Gangrel. The Prince did the same as Than and blocked the attack. Beowolf used their distraction to his advantage and jumped out from between them and dashed behind Gangrel, stabbing towards his back.

Unfortunately, the Prince hopped forward, avoiding the attack. He spun on the spot and Than arrived and stood by his side. The two looked at each other, nodded, and charged Beowolf.

The Headmaster swung his cane-sword and began deflecting their attacks with relative ease. Eventually, he began sending his own attacks back towards them. His two opponents were suddenly rushed with alternating strikes from Beowolf.

Than switched to a one handed hold on the lance and used her other hand to summon a ball of dark magic. She threw it at Beowolf, who proceeded to summon a raging wall of fire, rendering the darkness powerless.

And that was when Gangrel hit Beowolf with a thunder attack.

The manakete was thrown backward several feet, his vision haywired. Thunder was very bad for dragons, and Beowolf could feel the effects of the attack taking their toll. He'd have to finish this fight fast.

Looking up, Beowolf saw Gangrel flinging another thunder attack at him. With great haste, Beowolf blocked it the same way he had the first time. The Headmaster pushed himself off the ground, using his cane-sword for assistance.

Just as he stood up, he saw the floor turn dark. Beowolf was standing in a circle of dark magic. It erupted from the floor and began to smother him. Concentrating extremely hard, Beowolf summoned enough control to send of pulse of flames out of his body. The attack allowed him to force his way out of the spell's grasp. But Beowolf was getting tired. Very tired.

He'd have to make this last burst of strength count.

Launching himself forward, Beowolf swung his sword with all his might at Than. The woman blocked, as he'd expected and followed up with a counter attack. Beowolf anticipated that though, and caught the lance with his free hand. Beowolf pulled it, attempting to disarm his opponent.

Too slow.

A bolt of thunder struck the manakete in the back. He was thrown from his feet and landed on his back, utterly exhausted.

"Heh, looks like you talked rather big," said Than with a tone think with smugness.

Gangrel II walked over and looked at the man laying on the ground and began to laugh, "Pathetic. I've fought peasants stronger than you." Lifting his Levin Sword, he stabbed it into Beowolf's right leg. The manakete screamed.

Than Gangrel sent a bolt of thunder out of his blade.

Beowolf's scream was even more terrible, echoing throughout the graduation hall. It rang so everyone could hear it. The inside of Beowolf's leg was being fried.

"NO!" shouted a new voice.

Zack charged the two enemies from where ever he had been. Beowolf's vision began to blur, he couldn't feel his right leg any more.

"How did they drive all the soldiers back!?" cursed Gangrel.

"No matter," said Than. "We did what we came to do. Let's make haste and get back to the ship."

The two began to run away as Zack approached. Beowolf saw the black haired man bend over Beowolf and call his name, his voice turning into a blur just like his face. Beowolf's eyes slowly closed.

And the Headmaster blacked out.

**XXXXXXX**

**Well, There's the end of the academy arc. The next chapter will be a bit of a transition into the next arc**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chast: Yep, that was Cormag's. I guess you could say Shulk was really feeling it. Yeah, it's difficult to keep up with the whole cast, plus some haven't gotten their supports yet and regardless of how well you do those there will still be a few that come up on top merely due to plot relevance.**

**Ace: No, I have other ways to get feels going, some have been talked over with Cormag and others haven't. Well, the thing with Grant is that he's one of the four leaders of a galaxy full of superhumans based on ghouls. It's kinda hard for anyone to even come close to challenging him, so the only one t the moment who would not make that fight anticlimactic is Beowolf. There is also the fact that I am not nearly as good with action as Cormag is. We're still working on Hawke, but his development will come eventually.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem**

XXXXXXXX

Isaac pov

_I remember being on the ground with a spear struck my shoulder, blaster shots ripping through my suit and now making holes in my chest, a piece of debris where my left arm used to be. I couldn't open my eyes at that moment. The shit hit the fan so fast that I couldn't avoid it. I could only hear the things on the my communicator._

_"Is the cargo ready?"_

_"Yes, we got ourselves a juicy cargo! Military weapons, minerals, supplies. And that's not incuding the 'living' cargo." A couple of voices said on the channel._

_"Issac!" A voice cried my name. "Help me!" The voice begged, it was feminine. "Please, I'm scared… I need you!" the voice said, in between tears._

_I tried to move, but my body didn't or couldn't move at the moment._

_Finally a voice spoke on the channel, "I'm sorry Isaac, but this is the only way to save you all for what is coming… I couldn't save you, but you're a smart guy, I know you'll figure out something. Sorry."_

_"Far-ren… Farren, FARREN! I'll kill you… You hear me! I am going to kill you… I don't...I don't care if I need to explore every star in the galaxy! I will find you!" I shouted with what was left of my energy._

_"The ship is ready… Captain Farren."_

_"Let's go… Farewell Isaac, I hope we meet in a better life."_

_"FARREN!"_

_Everything suddenly turned dark. Voices sounded like echos in an empty room._

_"You left me to die Isaac, I though we meant something to you!"_

_"You left us and you lived, but what about us? Huh!? I guess you just used us to reach your goals!"_

_"We were going to go to Triple A, to turn into the best of the best. That was our dream… But you left us with those savages and you shrug those dreams away like they were nothing."_

_"Farewell Isaac, I hope we meet in a better life!"_

_"YOU LEFT US!" The voices echoed louder and louder._

XXXXXXXXX

I opened my eyes abruptly while gasping for air. Just another damn nightmare. Always the same one.

I stand up from my bed and open my night stand drawer and pull a bottle of pills out. I sighed, it was empty, of course.

Well, there goes another night without sleep. I release another sigh while standing up, I dress myself with a dark grey leather flight jacket with a black shirt underneath. Next came a pair of padded jeans and a belt with several pouches along with a pair of boots.

I take a look at the mirror… My brown hair is still short and my skin is still pale, I have a thick stubble covering my face. My eyes used to have a blue-grey tone, but now they have a green-yellow tone. This oddity is related to an accident that I suffered four years ago that caused to me many, many, MANY injuries, both physically and mentally. During said incident, I lost my eyes as well as my left arm. I don't know if Naga felt pity for me at that time, since I was found by a wacko named Alexander Sarif. I respected the man, but he wanted to experiment on me in more ways than one. He replaced my eyes with Retinal Prosthesis and gave me a new arm. When I asked him why he did those things for me and why he saved me, he just said, 'I just felt like it, now go out there and be the best engineer the galaxy has ever seen.' When I asked him how much I owed him, he told me that someone else would pay for me… which brings me to my next predicament.

"Isaac, please report to the captain at the depot."

Speak of the devil.

XXXXXXXXX

I walk dwon the corridors of the ship. My operation was expensive, but by a stroke of luck another ship was passing by that day… An Anna Trading Corp ship, one of the Anna sisters had decided to pay for my operation in exchange of my sou-erm, I mean my service on their ship.

"Hey there handsome."

"Hello Annabella," I greeted one of the Annas that I decided to call Annabella because she was the oldest Anna in the ship.

"Sis is looking for you in the depot."

"I know, I know. I live to do the queen's bidding," I said with a mocking tone. "I better get over there before she gets mad at me… again."

"Good luck Isaac!" Annabella said before leaving.

The Anna sisters aren't bad people, they're just... a little bit uptight in terms of budget, so they go the extra mile with the way they deal with money. That they also had an insane love for gold is not related to anything…

"Hello Isaac!" another Anna greeted me.

"Hey Annie, how are you?" I asked her. Annie is the youngest of the Anna sisters on the ship and the one that convinced the others to pay for my enhancements.

"Hey, do you think we have more of those Taguel herbal pills?"

"The ones that tasted like a wyvern's ass?"

"Yes those."

"I'll check the stock if we have those, having nightmares again?"

"Kinda." I don't want to admit it but those ass tasting pills are the only thing that let me sleep soundly at night. Those pills are supposed to be made from natural herbs that the Taguel had used for their nightmares a long time ago, but it works on humans too.

"Aw do you want me to tuck you in and give you a goodnight kiss?" Annie said with a teasing tone.

"W-What!?" I can feel the blood rising to my head.

Annie started to giggle, "You are so cute when you're flustered"

"Isaac! Stop flirting with my sister and get your ass down here!" The intercom activated along with the voice of the boss.

Hey, I'm not the one flirting here!

"I'll better go before she cut something else beside my paycheck," I said while waving goodbye to Annie.

XXXXXXXXX

I managed to get into the depot of the ship.

"About time you got here!" This particular Anna is the captain of the ship, as well as my boss. "I've been waiting here for an hour and time is gold!"

I sigh. "What's the problem, boss?" I asked Anna, trying to calm her down before she cut off my head.

"The door of the depot is stuck again, I need to move this box inside so we can have space in the ship."

"I'll see what I can do," I said while walking towards the door… It doesn't seem to be a problem with the door itself. "Are you sure it's the door?"

"I guess, you know I'm not very good with this stuff…" Anna said with a bit of shame in her voice. Most Annas have a basic knowledge of technology, but this one in particular doesn't know a lot.

"I'll check the system." I opened the control panel next to the door and pulled a multi-function cable from one of my pouches and connected it to the panel. Then I connected the other end into my left arm. My enchantment came with a bunch of perks that a modern day engineer shouldn't leave home without. My arm works as a hacking tool, and a computer while my eyes are the monitors... plus I can take pictures with my eyes.

I clean the system and re-program the door, which was a hassle. Suddenly, when I pull the cable away, the door opened.

"Yes, thank you Isaac!" Anna said while grabbing one of the boxes near her feet.

"Well if you'll excuse me, I'll-"

"Where do you think you're going?" Anna asked while putting her hands on her hips. "You're not done yet! You need to help me with the boxes!"

"I'm an engineer, not a goon, carry your own boxes!"

"Oh, is that so?" Anna gave me a evil grin. Suddenly she pulled her sword out. "Well since you decided to not work with us anymore, I'll guess I'll have to take that fancy arm of yours back, as well as those pretty eyes of yours!"

"Erm… what I meant was that of course I would help!"

"That's the spirit! Now c'mon, chop chop. Remember, time is gold" Anna said with her typical innocent smile.

"One of this days, I'll get back at her!" I groaned while picking a box off the ground.

"Sis! Sis!" Annabella and Annie burst out of the door. "You need to see this!"

Annie turned on the TV in the depot and changed to a news channel.

"This is GNN, Galaxy News Network with an urgent last-minute report. Hello everyone, my name is John Fakename, bringing you the latest news in the galaxy. Today, the Plegian Empire declared war against Ylisse by attacking different tactical points in the system, one of the locations was the Ascending Angels Academy, commonly known as Triple A. The academy was attacked during the graduation ceremony of this year's class, several students and members of the academy board were killed during the attack. Now we are being joined with Aramedes Sirus, military historian with his-" Annie turned off the TV.

"So there's going to be a war," Anna said flatly.

"What do you think, sis?" Annabella asked her sister, who was in deep though.

"You know what this means!?" Anna asked me, expecting me to answer.

"That we should leave what we are doing and fight while gathering a bunch of misfit warriors from around the galaxy so we can have our own army to defend the galaxy and win the war while finding friendship and love along the way?"

"… No, silly. People are going to want to buy weapons so they can feel safe when the war nears them. We need to re-stock! We are going to make a fortune!"

"I'm glad that the notion of war and the loses of thousands of innocent lives aren't fazing you at all, boss" I said sarcastically. Annie giggled, Annabella sighed and Anna had money signs in her eyes.

So they attacked Triple A, huh? I had a sneaking suspicion that this wouldn't turn out for me all too well.

XXXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

3 months later

"So, where are we going anyway?" I heard Hawke ask from his seat in the gunner's pit.

"We have to go down to the edge of the Ylissean route for ATC. Apparently Gangrel's been trying to make negotiations with our region's head Anna as well as the head of the space pirates. It won't necessarily be a major conflict, but it's honestly still too big to send just seven soldiers. I guess we're running low on decent soldiers." Seriously, who the hell sends a squadron numbering in the single digits to diffuse anything? I don't care if the soldiers are from the Naga damned starship Morgan, the Altean Order still needs to stop preaching and send some actual-

"It would be eight if a certain two people hadn't gotten a little too frisky two months ago." I heard Mimicka teasing over the intercom.

"Hey-" I grumbled

"I'm just joking, Nocht. It was very nice of your parents to hold a service on such short notice. It was a little early, but I guess that doesn't matter when you might not last until the right time." Mimicka said. The group, although teasing, had been very supportive of us marrying despite barely being of legal age. They had learned the hard way that age doesn't matter for soldiers, because death does not discriminate with it's victims.

"It also keeps Jett away from the battlefield, and that's always a good thing. The less risk for her, the better." I would do anything to keep her out of danger. I wouldn't be able to stand losing any of my crew, but it was even worse in the case of Jett and, to a lesser extent, Hawke. The two had been my first two real friends, and had stuck with me all this time. Jett was the one person who never failed to bring a smile to my face, even in my worst times. Yes, Hawke was one of my best friends and Artemis understood the anxiety I had as a tactician, but neither one could spark my emotions like Jett could.

"Hey Nocht." I heard Artemis' voice and turned. She still had some minor problems with ships moving at these speed and as such only came down from her quarters if there was something important she needed to talk about. "I met another member of the Altean Order yesterday. They always put me on a pedestal due to my bloodline and weapon, and it always makes me feel wonderful, but-"

"You wonder what would happen to the Earth Branded now that you know one personally?"

Artemis nodded "Yes, they blame them for the 'corruption' of the Ylissean government."

"Don't worry about it, we're descendants of dragons that required armies to defeat, we're not going to simply fall over because a couple of pricks want us gone. If they come for me, I'll remind them of why the ancient Ylisseans feared Grima in the first place. Besides, without us they would lose most of their elite tacticians. The Altean Order may hate us, but they would be absolutely fucked without us, and if they don't realize that then they'll reap what they've sown when most of the other manakete and a fair portion of regular humans follow us to another country and they all fall within the month."

"Are you truly-"

"Even Beowolf would probably come because most of the interesting people would be gone. He may be crippled, but he could still take on most soldiers and I've heard him rant about extremist groups like them. He would probably have been the only remaining hope for the planet."

"Well, I will admit a lot of people hate the Order, and would be rather angry if the party should come into power. Anyway, how much further to go?"

I looked down at my radar, seeing a fairly large number of vessels concentrated in a small area fairly close by. I was pretty much certain that was the location we were looking for.

"Hey Reno! We'll be hitting them in a few minutes, so you may want to prepare for any surprise attacks that may come while attempting to make us look as much like a merchant ship as possible. I know it's a difficult task to ask for, but at least we have a mid size ship that is about the right size for the job."

"Got it, I'll be as stealthy as a bear laguz." Reno replied.

"Thank you. Wait, what?"

XXXXXXXXX

Their ship came out of hyperspace a fair distance away from the ships they were aiming for. Reno let them drift in, it was better than just bursting it out of hyperspace.

"Three Space Pirate ships, three Annas...and seven Plegians," Reno muttered. "Damn."

Reno glanced at the radar. The Annas and Space Pirates were clustered closer together. They either were friends or had some sort of temporary alliance against the Plegians.

Reno squinted at the closest Space Pirate ship. He recognized it.

The Interloper.

"Dammit," muttered Reno.

"Yo Nocht! The pirates are hailing us!" shouted Hawke.

"On screen," said Nocht.

The large window that the crew used to see what was in front of them suddenly popped up a picture of a man sitting in a chair.

"Who are you?" he said with cold calmness.

"We're a merchant vessel, our engines are having some trouble and we've gone adrift-" Nocht began.

"No," said the giant of a man. "You will tell me why you are here. Now."

"I just told you-"

"You have five seconds before I annihilate you," said the captain of the ship.

"Nocht! Let me talk to him!" said Reno.

Nocht got out of his chair and let Reno sit in it. The pilot locked gaze with the captain of the Space Pirates.

"Reno," said the captain, his tone softening, albeit only slightly.

"Captain Arturian," Reno said.

"You would turn up like this," Arturian said.

"Is that a complaint?" Reno asked.

"Quite possibly," Arturian mused. "But there's someone here who will want to see you." Captain Arturian turned toward someone who couldn't be seen from on the screen, "Lyrenne! Get your ass in here!"

Reno stiffened. Everyone on board saw it.

Arturian stood up from his chair and vanished off screen. A woman took his place. She was dressed similarly to Reno, a beat up suit that had seen many better days. She was, after all, the source of Reno's fashion. She even had a matching pair of sunglasses akin to Reno's. Though they were partially covered on her forehead by her long dark orange hair. An unidentifiable emotion passed over her sharp features.

Lyrenne stared at Reno for a long time before shouting off screen to someone, "Prime the teleporter. Beam up Reno, I want to have a...personal chat with him."

All Reno had time for was to swear before being beamed up.

XXXXXXXXX

Reno stumbled as he was beamed onto the Interloper. He never had quite gotten the hang of it. But he had bigger things to worry about.

In front of him stood Captain Colby Arturian and Lyrenne.

"Captain, it sure has been a while. I didn't know that the Pirate Lord such as yourself was captain of this ship," Reno said.

"I'm not," Colby said. "Lyrenne is. I just got back from my recent travels not too long ago. I haven't been Pirate Lord for long, but once a Pirate Lord, always one. But I'll leave you two to your...business." Colby Arturian left the room that Reno had been beamed into.

Lyrenne stared at him. Reno found it hard to tell if she was angry or not.

"Reno, you've been gone awhile," she said.

"Well...I had to go take care of my gramps," Reno said.

"For what, five years?" Lyrenne raised an eyebrow.

"I kinda got caught up in being accepted to Triple A," Reno said weakly.

"You're such an independent nineteen year old-"

"Twenty four!" interjected Reno.

"-who never seems to change. Always getting distracted. I'm not letting you out of my sight again," growled Lyrenne.

"You know you love me," Reno grinned.

"You know I want to break your neck," Lyrenne said.

"Ouch, so violent. But I suppose that's how you express yourself," Reno shrugged.

"We are so going drinking after this. And you're buying," said Lyrenne.

"So what's the plan?" Reno said.

"We're going to destroy those Plegians. Colby and the Annas are just discussing politics and future alliances right now," Lyrenne shrugged.

"Steal anything cool lately?" Reno asked.

"Not really. Not since...a few months ago," Lyrenne said, looking away.

Reno made the connection, "I saw the news. I was sorry to see them go."

"How would you know!? You abandoned us!" lashed out Lyrenne.

Reno took a step back. "I deserved that," he said in a rare moment of humility.

"Hmph, what's done is done. Now I'm going to your ship and we're going to kick some ass. And then drink," Lyrenne demanded.

"Any room in there for getting a kiss?" Reno smirked.

"Asshole. You should be glad that Colby is taking over this ship. Otherwise I wouldn't be going with you, and you want more from me?" Lyrenne asked.

"Well...once a pirate, always a pirate," Reno grinned.

Lyrenne grinned and shouted, "Oi! Beam us to Reno's ship!"

XXXXXXXXX

Hawke was getting bored. Nothing was happening! And Reno was gone, and with Artemis feeling sick and Jett gone, teasing Nocht was out of the question.

Suddenly, Reno and the woman from the pirate ship beamed down. They were kissing deeply and not even paying attention to their surroundings.

"Hey! Get a room!" shouted Hawke. Because that was just the right thing to do.

They separated, not even embarrassed. Reno turned to the crew and said, "Kids, when you need dating advice, come to Uncle Reno. He knows how to snag 'em."

"I will decapitate you," muttered Lyrenne, but loud enough for all to hear.

"Oh, shut up," said Reno cheerfully.

"Make me," Lyrenne said, lust in her voice.

Hawke just shook his head. At least Nocht and Jett made sense as a couple.

XXXXXXXXX

"Destroy every ship except the main one. Beam me aboard the leader's and I shall...dismantle it," said Colby.

Colby's right hand man Jorsin nodded, "Priming the teleporter!"

Colby closed his eyes and felt the familiar feeling of teleporting. It was different that the kind of travel he was used to, but it wasn't foreign to him.

When the Pirate Lord opened his eyes, he was on board the other ship. Calmly taking his shotgun off his back, he shot the two armored guards in the room he had beamed down into. They died without a sound. Colby's gun was specially engineered for destroying anything armored.

He put the gun back on his back and took out his other weapon, a giant axe. Colby towered above most people, and thanks to that height and power using a giant axe was practical.

He left the room and encountered several more guards. They raised the alarm, but that didn't spare them from Colby's axe crashing down upon them and cleaving them in half.

The hallway door opened and several more guards entered.

Colby growled, "By the Mantle, how many of these shites are there!?"

Needless to say, they didn't last long. Colby marched on forward, which happened to be the cockpit.

Upon entering, Colby was attacked by two men. One was punched in the face, the other lost his legs and bled to death on the floor.

Colby walked up to the quivering captain of the ship. But before acknowledging him, he raised his communicator to his ear and said, "Jorsin, give the order."

"Sir!"

The Space Pirate ships and Anna ships began firing on the Plegians. Caught by surprise, they were quickly destroyed.

"Now," Colby turned to the captain.

The captain swore at Colby, "You're declaring war on the Plegian Empire! You ain't seen nothing yet!"

Colby laughed, "Boy, I've seen more than you'll ever know." And he killed the man. Painfully.

"Jorsin, the shields are down. Hack away," said Colby.

"With pleasure, sir."

XXXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

After making contact with the Annas, we boarded our target ship. I looked around nervously, knowing that we were supposed to have three people for reinforcements.

I saw two people coming towards us. One was a pale young man wearing an exosuit that had the Anna Merchantry logo on it. He had greenish eyes that were only a few tones away from the yellow of a morph's and a prosthetic arm. It seemed that he had been through his own share of battle, although it looked like he didn't come out very well. He looked to be about seventeen, and from what I could gather from his aura his magical power was slightly above that of the average second-year mage at Triple A, although his control over said power could only be judged over time.

The other was a girl of about the same age with brown hair tied in a ponytail and rabbit ears, with a brand on the left one. She had one blue eye, the other covered by a white eyepatch. She wore a combat suit in a mottled white and grey along with fingerless gloves and combat boots. She had a dagger sheathed at her hip and a necklace containing a beaststone, showing that she was probably one of the few branded capable of using the abilities of her patron species.

"Hey Harmony," Reno and Lyrenne both said to the girl. "You were only this tall last time I saw you." Reno added, gesturing at his waist.

"Dear gods, I'm surrounded by damned pirates." The boy muttered under his breath. "My name is Isaac, by the way."

"Okay, you two stay a few feet back and take out any stragglers we leave behind, that way we can mow through fairly quickly without worrying about leaving room for enemies to get back up and take us out. I also expect you two to watch for any attacks from the rear."

"That works for me," Harmony began "I've got good footwork, but I'm not exactly the fastest runner."

"Yay, I get to spend more time with the pirates." Isaac muttered at a low enough volume that only Harmony and I could notice, although Harmony seemed oblivious. This guy seemed to have a grudge against space pirates, but I could not have that in our crew. I shot Isaac a glare while forming a tiny flux spell to quiet him.

Two enemies burst out of the shadows, one sage in the front and a wyvern lord on a Vasto unit in the back. Yay, promoted units, wonderful start to our mission.

Isaac cast an arcwind and threw it at the wyvern lord. The vehicle tilted, throwing the wyvern rider straight into the blast to come out as a bloody mess on the other end due to his poor resistance. It seemed that we had a wind magic user, which would have been a very fruitful investment. We now had every branch covered.

Lyrenne lashed out at the sage with her sword. The blade took on a blue glow before it slammed into the sage's shoulder. The sage's body disintegrated along the path of the blade's travel , allowing the strike to reach as far as the sage's stomach and killing the man.

"What is that blade?" Reno asked.

"Nothung. It's an ancient sword designed for killing mages." Lyrenne replied.

"Nice steal, I'm shocked that you know its history."Reno said in amazement.

"Nah, I just stole it from the museum because it looked shiny. Colby told me about it."

"You know, you could have just told me you were a history expert and I would have believed you."

"You wouldn't have."

"You're right. And then you would have beat me until I said you could be on top." Was there any subject that these two couldn't turn into innuendo? Well, I guess they were talking about swords, after all.

"I'm better on top." Lyrenne replied.

"Hear no evil!" Hawke and Harmony both yelled, covering their ears.

"And why is there a gun attachment?" I asked the Wyvernless wyvern duo in an attempt to change the subject.

"Because everyone needs a gunblade!" Lyrenne replied in an excited tone. I shrugged and went on through the rest of the ship.

There was a strange lack of major enemy numbers, as if someone else had already come through here. Despite this, I was able to get a good look at our new allies' abilities.

Harmony was very quick on her feet despite her slow running pace, and most of the enemies were unable to land a hit on her before she slit their throats. She was even more dangerous in rabbit form, in which she was able to crush the enemy between her teeth, providing a horrific sight for us and a humiliating end for the enemy.

Lyrenne used a similar, less refined, style to Reno. The one glaring difference was her choice of a sword rather than an axe like other wyvern units or a lance like Reno and the less prominent dracoknights.

Isaac used a very similar style to Mimicka, with his magic and guns, although a key difference was that where Mimicka made traps, Isaac hacked machines.

We made it into the command corridor and saw an interesting sight. Artemis' father was fending off a large group of soldiers with a pair of metal fans. A paladin, most likely the captain of the ship, was watching with a smirk on his face. There also were no promoted units, meaning that the two powerful units we had fought earlier were most likely the first and second mates.

"Father, what are you doing here?" Artemis questioned.

"Colby called in a favor since I owed him. Anyway, you all take on the captain, all take these guys!" As if to wave off any worries we had for him, Ken'su threw his fans into the air and drew a killing edge and a Wo Dao before killing two enemy soldiers in a single motion.

We all made our way around to the enemy captain, Issac, Perseus, and I reaching the location first. We all attacked at once from a range, light, dark,and anima fusing together into one powerful attack as the captain was hit from three directions. The attack probably would have killed the man had he the mystic barrier of Aegis not cut in. I couldn't believed it, we had managed a triangle attack through sheer luck.

The paladin charged at Hawke, assuming him to be the weakest link as a rifleman. Before the man could reach Hawke, however, he was stopped in his tracks.

Fire burst out in a circle around the paladin's horse, and I saw Mimicka smirk. Traps and fires, her two favorite things mixed into one.

Hawke took advantage of the situation and pointed his pistol at the captain's head. "Go the fuck to sleep!" Hawke bellowed as he pulled the trigger from barely out of the man's reach. The blast barreled into the captain's face, ending his life.

By the time we turned around, Ken'su had already dealt with the enemy soldiers. We all let out a tired but excited cheer.

XXXXXXXXX

Isaac pov

I was absolutely bored as I walked around the ship. The only two free hands I could think of were Perseus and Mimicka, who were currently having a talk about the ethics of magic, as Perseus wondered why the other used none of her magic to help others, and only to hurt. I avoided that conversation at all cost.

I walked into another room and felt a bucket of water pour onto my head.

Right, there was one other free hand on the ship. One I did not wish to associate with, Harmony.

"Got ya, tin man." Harmony said with a light giggle.

"Go away." I muttered, turning away.

Harmony walked out right behind me "Not until you tell me what your issue with pirates is."

"Do you really want to know? It's because you all ruined everything for me! My hopes, my dreams, hell, even my friends were taken from me by them. They took away the life I could have had."

"At least you have something to blame your misfortune on. You even had the Annas to pick up the pieces and put them back together. That's a hell of a lot better than what most of us had. Pirates rarely choose this life, most are driven to it." And with that Harmony walked away, leaving a few questions in my mind.

**XXXXXXXX**

**And now we are fully finished with the first arc. All that's left is a scene or two before the crew will be in the second. We'll see you next time, when we stop in Elibe!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Cookies: Anna made sure that Issac had no x-ray attachments, she didn't want him perving on her sisters. Gold can by the funds to transmute some, remember what Edward Elric has taught us. Colby is everywhere now, he was even mentioned in the outrealm chapter of Order and Chaos, along with a minor mention of Vincent and an appearance from the Faraday- Gaius and the Cassidy- Anna, and Jett Cassidy who sadly will never be in IE. As for Lyrenne, you'll have to ask Cormag, I believe she's a little older than Reno being a mentor of sorts, who is weaker for some reason although the Dain blood and Aether may explain that. Harmony's rabbit form will hopefully get proper justice soon, although that depends on which one of us writes the action scene. Trust me, if this was a one person fic it would probably never get updated.**

**Ace: Reno would probably throw Isaac into a wall or something, taking it as some form of insult on his intelligence/ignorance due to Isaac's hatred of pirates being well known. Colby is in every outrealm, hell, if he appears much more I wouldn't be surprised if he started having cameos in the actual games as an in-joke.**

**Cormag, "You know my next avatar is going to be called Colby!"**

**Chast: You nailed it on the head, but I won't say which one. Since pirates could swim in the main games, I'm tempted to give those with the space pirate class the ability to swim through space, although that's already a given for Colby.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fire Emblem.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Nocht pov

1 year later

We entered the halls of Triple A. I had never expected to see this place again, although I guessed that I never expected to see the place in such a state of disrepair, either. While all the air seals were intact, that was about it. Nothing was completely destroyed, but massive scratches and burn marks lined the halls, Einherjars could be seen rushing to make repairs.

Beowolf walked towards us, giving a greeting "Well, I expected to see your children here eventually, but I thought they would be a little older by that time." We called him a week prior to our trip here. Jett's leave was finished, so we would have to leave our precious daughter Gaea somewhere else. Already, the girl was growing a small bob of red hair that clashed with her purple eyes, a black brand in her left.

We would have left them with my parents, but as former crewmen of starship Morgan, they were prime targets of the Plegians they had defeated twenty years ago. Our response to this was to offer to take them to the academy as well, but they had joined with Hawke's father in order to protect Southtown in the case of an assault. They knew they would probably die in the attack, but they would rather die fighting then watch civilians be slaughtered.

Which left the academy. The place was certainly not exempt from attack, but at the very least it was safer than most other places. In addition, the academy was currently closed as a result of the attack, and no competent army would attack a fortress filled with Einherjars just to get to a manakete and five to ten instructors.

Immediately after Jett handed Gaea to Beowolf, the headmaster began to coddle the child, letting out coos of "Aren't you the cutest little hellspawn? Yes you are." and Gaea giggled in response.

I leaned over towards Artemis and whispered "Art, what the hell am I looking at?"

"Uncle Beowolf had a wife and children of his own once. Sadly, both the children were branded, so he was left alone after a few centuries." The manakete branded, while having a much larger lifespan than normal humans and taguel branded, did not share nearly the lifespan of the manekete and the laguz branded. They shared an average of about two to three centuries, with the oldest recorded branded living until his 660's. "Please don't bring it up around him. The time brings up some bad memories for him."

"Reminds you of you own parenthood, eh, Beowolf?" Ken'su asked, throwing Artemis' plea right out the window. The swordmaster had been placed on our ship's crew as an advisor over our mission. The man was as skilled as our entire team combined, but he didn't quite make up for the small army we honestly needed for such a task if things went south, and the gods knew we had poor we would at least make some allies in the people at our destination.

"Ah, Ken'su. I see you haven't withered away quite yet. I believe the last time I saw you was about… four years ago? I apologize if that's off, my age is starting to show. I'm almost five thousand now, It's a wonder I was able to even make it out of that battle alive. I suppose it helped that only two of their men were particularly competent."

"Yes, four years. That was the last tournament before Artemis and Victoria caught your attention. I wish I had been in that tournament, but I suppose if I had then I would have pulled her out. Besides, even if I hadn't had that pointless stance on keeping her away from fighting, I would have simply taken the spotlight away from my daughter and her friend." Normally, Artemis and Victoria would object to this. However, it's difficult to object to the words of someone who could take you down without even drawing his blade.

"I'm glad you eventually agreed. The peaceful life just doesn't suit the exalted bloodline, or any manakete for that matter. Even the descendants of Grima tend to provide aid, even if it's in a shady manner behind the scenes."

"Are you calling saving the entire galaxy's asses shady? Because that's exactly what we've been doing for the past few millennia!" I responded, indignant.

"And who's always on the frontlines?" Beowolf said in a sneer.

"Um, anyway!" Hawke began to tug on my clothing, and Lyrenne, Harmony, and Reno began to rush the others out "We should probably go, we have a long trip to Elibe!"

"Gaea! I'm sorry, mommy's gotta leave for now, but we'll be back, okay? Good luck, sweetie!" Jett cried out.

"Daddy'll come for you as soon as he can beat down those big bad Plegians!" I yelled before turning to Beowolf. "You better damn well take care of my daughter!"

"Don't worry." Beowolf said. "I'll treat her as if she were my apprentice. She'll never have to worry about anything but her parents under my care. I expect you all to be back before she's old enough to start missing you!"

And with that we entered the ship.

XXXXXXXX

Somewhere on the planet Valor, in the star system of Elibe, there was a meeting.

This was no ordinary meeting. It consisted of nine people, or rather, nine warriors from Elibe.

Each warrior represented a planet of Elibe, a section of Dragonslayers. And they seldom got along or agreed on anything.

Except for when slaying dragons was involved. And with the Plegians and Lopt Sect's war on Ylisse, that definitely got their attention.

The first to arrive was the first of the Council of Eight. She was from Lycia, land of the holy sword Durandal. It had been ages since the divine weapons had been used so as to not diminish their powers. The dragonslayer from Lycia, Rolanda, was a tall woman in contrast to her namesake, Roland, one of the Eight Legends. She had blue hair since she hailed from Ostia within Lycia. She was the third in line for the Ostian throne, after her two older brothers. Just like her bloodline had been known for, she had a hard resolve and strong moral compass.

The second to arrive was the delegation from Bern, the militant land. It was home to two divine weapons, the Sword of Seals and Eckesachs. The Bernese delegate, Lord Zepher, wasn't a tall man, but he wasn't short either. He had a broad physical stature. His short yellow hair and light beard drew his age at a stark contrast between his and Rolanda's. Zepher was about forty, fairly old for a Dragonslayer, whereas Rolanda was rather yound at twenty seven. Lord Zepher was cousin to the current King of Bern, and Duke of a large part of Bern. Unlike his bloodline, Zepher was not an aggressive man towards those of Elibe, only towards Dragons. He was actually good friends with Rolanda and the majority of the Council.

The two nodded at each other as they took their seats out of the nine chairs around the round table and waited for the rest of the fellow councilmen and women.

Third to arrive was an unexpectedly early man. Clubs was a giant of a man, larger than how the records depicted Durbans. He was completely bald and in his thirties. Out of the entire Council, he was the only one to have used his repective divine weapon in his lifetime, Armads. The man almost never spoke, leaving most to not understand the man from Caledonia. Caledonia was made up of what used to be the Western Islands on the original Elibe. But Clubs was a great warrior, according to the battles he'd been in.

As expected, he ignored Rolanda and Zepher and merely sat quietly staring at the table, as if deep in thought.

Soft footsteps announced the next arrival. Siphira of the desert planet Nabata announced her arrival her air of elegance. She had pale purple hair and was thirty, the second youngest in the Council and heir to Forblaze. She was not well liked among the Council, for she was always slow to act and in favor of trying to understand the dragons that the Council slayed. It was through sheer power that she was among the Council, she was the inheritor of Athos' secrets that had been passed down from master to apprentice for generations. Plus, as Rolanda had finely put it once, Siphira was a stuckup bitch.

Ostian insults at their finest.

"Clubs," she acknowledged. The man in question didn't even look at her and she shook her head angrily and sat down.

"Siphira," Zepher politely nodded to the younger woman.

"I did not greet you, old man," she said scathingly.

Zepher nodded, expecting the response. Any remark Rolanda would have made was cut off by the next to arrive.

Quark of Sacae's heavy foot falls echoed off the stone floor of the ancient pavilion. Hailing from the land of Murgleis, the bow of winds, he dressed like a traditional tribesman, and walked in proudly. A younger member of the council, he was thirty three. With dark hair tied in a ponytail, the nomad of Sacae was very proud of his lineage. Something he was eager to point out and justify his opinions with. 'Descendant of Karel this,' 'descendant of Karel that.' Thankfully, he wasn't insane like the man of old had been.

"Fellow Council," he greeted formally. He smiled at Rolanda, Clubs and Siphira. When Zepher smiled at Quark, the man ignored him. Quark unreasonably held dislike for Zepher and any Bernese people due to the brutal subjugation of Sacae 1000 years after the Scouring under King Zephiel.

"Damn it Quark, grow up and forgive Zepher already for something he didn't do," said a new voice. "It wasn't like I had to forgive him, that was eons ago. So be a man."

The sixth arrival was a woman who dressed as a traditional Ilian. Ilia had been brutally subjugated just like Sacae in the war Quark was refrencing. Nightshade had blue hair, like a typical Ilian. Ilia was home to the Maltet, the lance of ice and snow, and Nightshade was its wielder should the time come. At thrity five, she was a very caring person, a deadly foe in battle and close friends with Rolanda and Zepher. The three of them commonly sided on matters of debate. She greeted everyone in the room, though at Quark she simply shook her head.

Rolanda, Zepher and Nightshade all sat next to each other. Quark and Siphira sat next to one another, as since they usually agreed. Siphira because she had a fascination of dragons and Quark because he hated Zepher. And Clubs was just plain unpredictable.

"Am I late?" spoke the seventh arrival.

Father Erkus of Etruria, land of Aureola, the tome of light, entered. He was a short fellow with no remarkable features. He was the oldest on the council, measuring in at an ancient fifty years. He used a Recover Staff to help himself walk from an injury sustained from in his youth. He sat next to Clubs, since he usually had opinions that were all over the place as well. On one hand, he was a man of God. And on the other, he had a hatred for Dragons.

"That makes seven," said the old man lightly. "Just two more."

Nightshade rolled her eyes, "We're educated individuals Father, we can count."

Erkus chuckled merrily as eased into his chair. And that was another thing about Erkus, unless the situation required it, he took almost everything without seriousness.

The last person to arrive made no announcement of their presence. She walked in like a ghost, silently but with a flutter of shaman robes. Darian of Valor and the tome Apocalypse sat at her seat before half of the Council even realized she was there. Bramimond had had no place where he called home, thus every Dragonslayer that followed his path called Valor, the dead planet, their home. Darian had lost part of herself to the darkness long ago, and none remembered how old she was. With purple hair and soft features, she was a silent, but just woman. Darkness had taken away the first half of her memories, and when asked how, she would always respond, "Dragons."

She sat at the last remaining spot at the table. They all glanced at the last chair, the ninth chair in the Council of Eight.

"Looks like you all beat me. That's a first," came a voice from the entrance.

Everyone stood up in respect. It was one point they all agreed on, this man deserved their respect.

Renault walked in, holding his usual staff in hand, the Holy Maiden. It was Elimine's staff, and was the most powerful staff in existance. Some said it could even heal wounds from Divine Weapons. But it was more of a symbol rather than to be used in battle. "Be seated," he commanded to the Council. As the man who was not only the oldest in the known universe, and was the only one who had killed a dragon of old, but he was the head of the Council too. The ninth member of Eight. Even if it was thousands of years ago, dragons then were stronger than they were now and in the eyes of any Dragonslayer, that was enough.

"Let's call this meeting to order," he said, taking his seat.

The Eight nodded and paid attention to their leader. As head, Renault couldn't vote on any decision except in the case of a tie. He actually did no real leading, he just lead the meetings. And handled keeping the Eight in line, for they rarely agreed on anything.

"The reason for this meeting, as you should all know, is because of the Plegian aggression. But most importantly of that, the Lopt Sect. They in particular stand in our way of what we hold most highly in this organization," Renault said. "And it's time to choose a side. Do we strike back against the Plegians and Lopt Sect? Or do we stand by and watch?"

Each member of the Council represented about one thousand people. The Dragonslayers numbered at about eight thousand, but each could be considered in the top five percent of warriors in the universe.

"As since this is our only reason for this meeting, I will keep it brief so we can get back to our respective planets and prepare for what's to come," Renault said. "We shall go around the table, starting with Rolanda."

"I vote for war against Plegia and the Lopt Sect," she delcared immediately. She was an impulsive one, and firm in her beliefs as a Dragonslayer. She gazed around the table, trying to guess where the votes would fall.

Nightshade was next. Rolanda didn't have to consider before mentally placing her vote. "I vote likewise," spoke Nightshade, who was next in line around the table. Rolanda nodded at her, and the Ilian winked back.

Zepher was seated next to Nightshade, and had the next vote. Again, Rolanda didn't have to guess.

Zepher chuckled, "I'm sure you all know what I shall vote, and I vote for war."

Darian was next. Rolanda studied the woman carefully. Darian was unpredictable, and usually swayed either way. But unlike Erkus and Clubs, she could never be swayed from a choice after she had made up her mind. She sat silently for a while before speaking, "I vote no. Let us remain as we are, at peace. This war does not concern us."

Rolanda frowned. While Darian usually took the careful route, Rolanda figured war would be enough to convince her. This was a war that had to do with the Dragonslayer's core beliefs.

Quark fell next in the voting order. He watched Zepher carefully, taking several long moments to seemingly reach a decision.

Quark said, "I agree with Darian."

Rolanda scowled, he only said that because Zepher had voted for war. That bastard. But it wasn't unexpected, and Rolanda had predicted it.

"I agree with Quark," Siphira simply said. Typical of Siphira, for she wished for the days of Arcadia in old Elibe. But the Dragonslayers had put an end to that abomination long ago.

Three to three, Rolanda was on the edge of her seat.

Clubs took several minutes. The rest were used to this, since the man took ages to set on an opinion.

"Nay," spoke Clubs softly. "No more war."

Rolanda held her breath nervously. Clubs knew that any battle could be his last, after holding Armads, his destiny was to meet his end in battle. Every Divine Weapon had its consequences, and that was Clubs' fate. And as far as Rolanda could see, he didn't want to die. Or perhaps he merely wanted to protect Elibe from danger.

Dragonslayers were not the central governing force of the planets of Elibe, but they held extreme influence. If they went to war, it would not be long before the rest of Elibe followed.

Three to Four.

"Father Erkus, the vote is in your hands," Renault prompted.

Erkus stood and cleared his throat while leaning on his staff, "And so the vote falls to me. I am the deciding factor, because Sir Renault's vote will be obvious should it come to a tie breaker. This war is not something that I can condone lightly. Therefore, since it goes against Elimine's teachings, I must vote against war."

Erkus sat down quietly, ignoring the triumphant looks of Siphira and Quark. Clubs merely nodded to Erkus, which the priest returned.

Renault sat quietly for a few moments before saying, "So be it. Meeting adjourned."

Quark and Siphira departed immediately. Clubs left a few moments after them. Erkus hobbled out next, casting a sympathetic look back towards the remaining of the Eight.

"Damn," Nightshade said.

"I must apologize," Darian said. "But war for Valor would not be best for our prospects. My people would lose themselves all too quickly."

"Lady Darian, we understand why you voted as you did. What we do not understand, is Erkus and Clubs," Zepher said.

"Clubs voted because any battle could be his last. He's being selfish," Rolanda said.

"Clubs is not selfish. He merely wants to avoid a war. Times have not been good for Caledonia," Renault said firmly.

Rolanda apologized, "Sorry, I forgot my place."

Renault waved a dismissive hand, "It is no matter. However, the fact that we will sit doing nothing disturbs me. This threat is very real. I advise any of you to try and convince Erkus or Clubs. To win, we must have the first strike, to show the rest of Elibe that we are powerful."

Darian looked down, "I...I must apologize again."

"Darian, stop apologizing," said Nightshade. "You have a reason for voting as you did."

Darian looked down, "Even so, I must take my leave with shame."

The woman departed, leaving only four of the Eight left.

"Ylisseans will be here soon to request for our aid. I cannot stop each of you individually helping, but if you so choose to, make it count," Renault said as he stood up to leave.

The three nodded and stood at attention as Renault left the pavilion.

"Looks like we've got some convincing to do," Rolanda said.

"I shall try to sway Clubs," Zepher said. "I know him better than you two."

"I shall attempt to sway Erkus. Ilians and Etrurians have gotten along well for ages, it may work in our favor," Nightshade said.

Rolanda nodded, "And I'll try a last appeal to Darian. But I can't promise anything."

The three all nodded and went on their respective ways.

XXXXXXXXX

Mimicka pov

"Are you ready to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter?" Hawke asked as he cocked his pistol. We had just arrived in Elibe, and had made our way to an open firing range that was held at the inn we were staying at. The others would probably relax for a while, but Hawke and I would get very few chances to practice marksmanship on a target that wasn't firing back. Magic and swordsmanship could be practiced by oneself or with a partner, but it was pretty much impossible to practice with firearms unless you have a range at hand. You could use bottles for practice, but it just wasn't the same.

"I'd like to see you try." I said with a smirk. "These pistols may not be the only weapons I have to spread my focus on, but I'm not a tactician for nothing, after all."

"Only in name, Nocht does all the strategy."

"Shut it!" I said, aggravated. In the end, only one of us could be labeled as the crew tactician on such a small ship, so I was left with just trap duty. "Okay, range motion level ten, set." I said as I placed it on the highest difficulty. The range boasted a banner stating that the range was on par with one from a space academy. We figured that the best it could actually do was about a five on the Triple A ranges, so we decided to try max level for our competition.

The machines in the range began to whir, and Hawke smirked as he twirled his twin pistols. The machine began to move at an alarming rate, much faster than I expected.

I did my best to keep up, but they were moving at a pace I couldn't keep up with. I managed to hit most of them, but I was moving at such a pace that I could barely even keep up with where I was aiming, missing at least one for every five targets that came by. Several of the ones that I did hit I only grazed. Thankfully, those ones would still count for some points, and they would hopefully have been enough to keep me ahead of Hawke.

Those hopes were ruined the second I saw how Hawke was doing.

Hawke was hitting every single target with immense precision. Even if the hits didn't all hit vitals, any one of them would at the very least have severely wounded the target.

As if that wasn't enough, he was taking this about as seriously as he did everything else: in other words, not at all. He wasn't struggling in any way to make sure he could keep up nor was he putting in the extra effort needed to get all headshots or to hit vitals with each round. Rather, he was treating the session as what it really was: a game. He moved in a rhythm similar as if he were dancing to a song stuck in his head, and was emphasizing some of his shots by adding flourishes and spins before the shot, which meant he was actually slowing himself down. If he were trying as hard as he would in actual combat, none of these targets would be escaping with their heads.

To rub even more salt in the wound, as the last five came Hawke jumped into the air. He flipped and shot three down in the center of their heads before he came around. When he landed, he immediately shot the fourth with his right pistol before doing a three-sixty and firing with the left, nailing the final target in the heart as it was about to exit the range.

Hawke smirked as his screen flashed with a golden "Perfect!" and looked at me, with my 80%.

"How did you even do that?" I asked Hawke.

Hawke shrugged and said "Maybe if you didn't try to use three different weapons you would be able to do the same. What level were you shooting in the range at the academy?"

"Six. What about you?"

"Ten, the only person with a score higher than me was my father, the Juggernaut of Ferox. That range was going at about an eight, so those boasts held at least a little water to them."

"Well, I don't feel so bad about my score now. Wait, your dad is the juggernaut, as in THE Juggernaut? The guy who once took out an entire fleet of Plegian ships with just a one man cruiser and who took out squadrons of soldiers with his minigun, that Juggernaut? Why didn't you tell me when we visited Southtown, I would have gotten an autograph!"

"He doesn't really like all that publicity. That's why he moved to the boonies like Nocht's parents did and why he only took me to the range a few times. His fame could be pretty crush-" Hawke got sidetracked as he saw a blue-haired girl wearing the clothes of an Ostian noble. Hawke most likely knew nothing of her likely upbringing and was most likely focusing more on the woman's assets than anything else. "Damn, that's a nice looking girl!" Hawke said, luckily not so loudly as to catch the woman's attention.

Hawke walked over towards the woman and began speaking, gesturing to his score in an attempt to impress her. Within moments, he angered the woman so much that she slapped him before drawing her blade.

I didn't know what Hawke had done, but it was pertinent that I aid him before he caused an intergalactic crisis.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Ok, here's the start of the Elibe arc. Next chapter will probably be late, Cormag's having computer problems, but he's ordering a new one.**

**Cormag: Yes, very unfortunate. That's why it's almost been a month since IE was updated. But of all the ways the whole situation could have ended, it ended well. I was able to save everything on the computer. But worry not! As soon as I get another one (ordering one tonight) I shall binge write until I have a chapter of IE AND SE done!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Reviews:**

**Ace: Yep, adorable but deadly. Eh, I don't know Cormag's reasoning with it, but I think ties are too cliche so that works well. Hawke will need a leash before everything's finished.**

**Chasti: It used to be, but the juggernaut kinda just hides himself from the public, like Nocht's parents and the same as Jett's used to do.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Fire Emblem.**

XXXXXXXXXX

Nocht pov

"What do you think you're doing with my friend?" I yelled as I made my way to the blue haired girl.

The woman looked from Artemis to Mimicka before finally resting her eyes upon me. "Of course, damned dragonkin." The woman muttered before pointing her blade at Hawke "I'm assuming this is yours?"

"Yes, ma'am. Could you please not kill him? He's a somewhat important member of the Ylissean army at this point, and we would like to have all of our men when we meet the Dragonslayers."

"Dragonslayers? Is Elimine toying with me?" The woman muttered "So they sent a bunch of dragonkin to bargain with us. How insulting."

"Us?" I asked, only for my question to fall upon deaf ears.

"Now, now, Rolanda. I would advise that you take into account that dragonkin have saved our entire galaxy on occasion, even before we had founded space colonies." A teal haired man wearing the clothes of a bishop walked up. "Yes, the descendants of dragons have caused trouble, but that is no reason for the stereotypes and slurs I've heard you all throw around in the council. Humans are capable of just as much, as Quark constantly throws in Zepher's face." The man turned towards us and bowed "I apologize for my colleague's actions. My name is Renault, and this is Rolanda. We are both members of the council of eight."

"Wait, as in _that_ Renault? The Renault of the Lycian League?" I said, growing excited "The oldest man in the known universe?"

"I would prefer you not think of me by those terms. My time in the League was but a fleeting moment in my life, and my lifespan is not nearly as wonderful a thing as others make it out to be. It is more of a curse than anything else."

"Why have you come?" Rolanda said rudely. "Sorry, let me rephrase that. Why are you meeting a member of the council aside from a meeting or battle? We both know you aren't here for small talk."

"Oh, right. I suppose I should be getting to that. The Ostian capital is currently under the attack of a group of dragons. The dragons all have black markings painted on them, so it is likely that they are being controlled by a group behind the scenes. I would assume that it is another group wishing to recreate the Black Fang."

"I suppose we should go then. If we are to defend our home, we must fight after all." Rolanda said, and the two began to march off.

"Wait!" Artemis yelled, and Rolanda turned towards her. "Let us prove ourselves to you, we will help."

"Are the all certain that you can take on a dragon? You don't look like much." Rolanda said skeptically.

Artemis smirked, holding the Falchion up "This sword is for more than just decoration, and I know it's taken down worse than what we'll be fighting."

"I may look old, but I could take one of those things myself. Actually, I think I will. The rest of the group can pull their weight." Ken'su said with an arrogant yet sagely smile.

"We need all the help we can get." Renault said "Let us simply hope that your words hold true."

XXXXXXXXXXX

We charged towards one of the dragons. Rolanda, Renault, and Ken'su had gone to fight off their own dragons, leaving us without our most powerful members. Regardless, we still had the ten of us, so it shouldn't have been much of a problem to take on a single dragon.

The beast was hulking, far larger than I had anticipated. The best was larger than most buildings, its claws the length of arming swords.

Jett began to hurl volleys of her knives at the dragon, but the small blades did very littles damage, only drawing small dots of blood out. The dragon shoved her roughly aside with the flat of its palm, and she was sent flying into the ground. Perseus immediately rushed to heal her.

I launched missiles of dark magic that merged into a single giant orb. The orb slammed into the dragon's hide, however the attack merely grazed some of the skin on its sides and wearing off the marking of a large tooth.

Hawke put his two pistols together, merging them into a single rifle before aiming at the wound I had made. Hawke's shot connected, and the dragon winced as if it had a massive thorn shoved into it.

The dragon launched a fireball towards Hawke in its rage. Mimicka cut in and channeled her fire magic to knock the flames aside. The fireball slammed into the side of a building, but it seemed that only property damage came of it, no lives were taken.

As the dragon panted from exertion, Lyrenne charged in with Nothung. Sadly, antimagic weapons weren't particularly effective against dragons. Despite this, Lyrenne's attack was enough to further open the wound I had created, widening it to look more like a real sword wound.

Reno threw a green javelin towards the dragon with all of his might, which sadly wasn't much but his lance skill was enough to make up for it. Reno smirked as the javelin sunk in. The weapon was a modified Wyrmslayer that Renault had given to Reno. The dragon howled out in pain.

Isaach created a stable ball of wind magic, allowing Harmony to stand on top of it. The wind carried Harmony up, and she leapt up onto the dragon's arm. She immediately sank her wyrmkiller into its wrist, eliciting a loud shriek. The dragon retaliated by swiftly swiping with its good hand, knocking her off. Isaach created another ball of wind to cushion her fall, bringing her to a gentle stop.

I channeled the best Elthunder spell I could manage, wrapping chains of electricity around the dragon's arms to hold it back. The more the dragon thought back, the more the shackles dug into its arms.

"You must fall!" Artemis yelled as she ran up the dragon's arms. She made her way to the back of the beast's neck and sunk falchion in. The dragon gave a final cry before collapsing onto the ground. Artemis stood over the beast as she pulled the falchion out of its neck, reminding me of a tale about a prince who pulled a sword of of a large boulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rolanda pov

I ran up to meet my target, only two find that two new dragons had joined it. Knowing that I stood no chance of taking on three dragons with conventional weapons, I pulled out Durandal.

The blade was no longer in its original form. Over time, the weapons had become so degraded that their physical forms were falling apart. If this had happened, the eight legendary weapons' powers would be lost to the world forever, so the Dragonslayers remade them into a more contemporary design.

The hilt was very similar to the typical sword, but rather than a sheath the weapon seemingly ended there. With the press of a button, a blade of thick, heavy blue plasma formed into the shape of a great sword's blade. Energy radiated from the blade, visible and practically audible to anyone who witnessed it.

I felt a surge of power and smirked. I would not have stood a chance against these odds normally, but I now felt like I could take on twice this many. With such power, it was no wonder that there would be major drawbacks afterwards. Even now, I could feel the weapon's power changing my body.

"It's go time," I said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can you take three?" Renault asked.

"Of course I can," Rolanda said, feeling the power of Durandal surge through her. She felt...alive.

The first dragon let out a blast of fire. Rolanda jumped to the side to avoid it and began rushing the dragon.

Before the dragon knew it, Rolanda was running between it's legs. She thrust Durandal upward, and all seven feet of its majesty cut into the dragon's flesh.

Rolanda emerged from the back of the dragon as the large beast fell to the ground.

"And that's the power of a Divine Weapon, you draconic bastards," Rolanda snarled.

Now the other two beasts were far more intelligent than the dead dragon. Charging Rolanda would end in their deaths, so they began a tirade of fire.

Rolanda, strengthened by Durandal far past her normal capabilities, held up Durandal. The fire met the sword with a crash, and Rolanda didn't even flinch.

The dragons stopped once they realized it wasn't working. Rolanda took advantage of that and charged the dragons in what most would see as a suicidal move.

The nearer dragon swept its massive claw out to try and kill her. Most would have dodged the attack.

Rolanda grabbed the claw and held on.

The Dragonslayer leapt with her newfound strength and reached the dragon's back. She plunged her blade into the dragon's neck, causing it to scream.

Withdrawing her blade from the dying dragon, Rolanda turned towards the other dragon. The dragon in question tried to bite Rolanda.

Big mistake.

Rolanda, with one single stroke, cut off the dragon's head as she jumped from the other dragon's corpse onto the ground.

Seeing as the dragons were dead, Rolanda turned off Durandal and immediately felt fatigue.

She dismissed it, and began searching for Renault.

XXXXXXXXX

Renault stared at the dragon that had come for him. It was a massive beast that reminded him of his first dragon he'd fought. That was the only real memory he could remember from the thousands of years ago.

He'd been weak then. He'd let himself become weak with religion.

"But times change," Renault whispered as he stabbed Holy Maiden into the ground. It stayed upright in the dirt and Renault shed his ceremonial garments that marked him as a member of the Eight.

Underneath he wore the attire of a mercenary, thick leather armor. It was how he had learned to fight, and Renault was a man who didn't enjoy change.

"Come at me," he said, producing a sword that he had hidden under his ceremonial garments. The Regal Blade.

The dragon roared as Renault began walking towards it. It launched a fireball at Renault.

The old man deftly ducked to the side and began sprinting. The dragon took a swipe at him with its claws.

Renault held up the Regal Blade and caught the claws with it. With power he hadn't used in a long time, Renault held the dragon's claws in place, not moving him at all.

"Now for a new trick," he murmured. He extended his free hand and launched a lightning bolt at the dragon's belly.

The beast recoiled in surprise, but it wasn't hurt. Renault was no magician, but he was a fighter born.

Renault abandoned his position and darted under the dragon's claws, running toward the underbelly.

The dragon noticed this, and smashed him back with it's other set of claws.

Renault was thrown backward. He hit the ground with a thud and a grunt.

Swearing, he stood up with the hilt of his blade.

But the dragon was already upon him. It grabbed him in its mouth and threw him up into the air.

Renault felt the wind blow past his face with gusto as he flew upward. But gravity kicked in, and Renault spun in the air so he was facing downward at the dragon's open mouth.

He pointed his sword at the dragon as gravity took him down to earth.

Renault at the last second leaned forward so his sword pointed at the dragon's eyes, not its mouth.

The blade came in contact with the dragon sooner than Renault expected. As a result, he lost his grip and fell to the ground while the dragon screamed.

It had every right to do so, Renault had stabbed it in the brain.

"Bastard of a flying furnace," muttered Renault as he stood up from the fall. Thanks to Nergal's magic that still persisted to this day, he could withstand many things. Especially age.

The dragon toppled to the ground, dead.

And then another came around. The biggest of all of them.

"Elimine," muttered Renault. "I'm getting too old for this."

He reached into a small case on his belt and pulled out two ancient Einherjar cards. They were far more powerful than any newfangled Einherjar recreation of modern times.

"I Renault, command thee," spoke Renault. The cards glowed blue and two figures faded into appearance in front of him.

Two men garbed in black and with black hair stood firm. The one on the left wore a black leather cloak that was ordained with leather shoulder and arm armor. He reminded Renault of a snake, albeit only slightly.

The one on the right looked similar, though he wore a black trench coat without any semblance of defense. His red eyes gazed at Renault expectantly.

Renault had never used these two before. He preferred to not use Einherjar because he never had gotten used to them.

"What are your names?" he asked.

"Kira," said the one on the left.

"Vincent," said the man on the right.

"Kill that dragon," Renault said, pointing at the approaching beast.

"Yes sir," said Kira.

"Why the fuck not?" Vincent grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"So partner, what can you do?" Vincent asked.

"I can kill," Kira said.

"That's a bit ominous," Vincent said. "I guess someone likes surprises."

"Let's just kill this dragon," Kira said, drawing his rapier.

"Looks like we're clocking out early," Vincent said, drawing a long knife.

Kira met the dragon head on. He ducked under both slashes with its claws. Using some form of ability, he suddenly vanished from Vincent's vision.

Kira was on the dragon's back where he slashed at its neck armor with no success.

"Its armor is too thick!" shouted the man in black.

"It's always best to fight fire with fire," muttered Vincent as he conjured a fireball. The dragon watched it warily, not paying Kira any attention. Vincent threw the ball of fire at the dragon. It smashed directly into its underbelly.

And nothing happened.

"Well, shit."

The dragon spun around a whipped around its tail, striking Vincent backward and onto the ground.

Kira had more success. He used some dark magic on the dragon's neck instead of using his sword.

The dragon roared and shook him off its back. Kira hit the ground just as hard as Vincent had.

Which was pretty hard.

Vincent got up and recovered first. Changing his weapon, he sheathed his knife and withdrew his broadsword.

Vincent followed Kira's example to try and get on the dragon's back. He narrowly dodged the first set of claws and the second he managed to deflect with his broadsword.

Upon realizing he wouldn't be able to get on the very high up back, Vincent began to adjust his target to the dragon's heart.

Or at least where Vincent's vast knowledge of dragons told him the heart was.

Which was somewhere in the dragon. Probably near the front.

Vincent drew back his sword tried to plunge the blade into the dragon. But the scales deflected his blade. And that would have been the end of Vincent had Kira not come out of nowhere with his speed powers and grabbed Vincent out of the massive dragon claw's ways.

"I've got a plan," said Kira.

"Good!" Vincent said. "Because I don't. I really never do actually. I just go with the flow most of the time and hope something good happens."

"You're a strange fellow," Kira remarked.

"What do I do?" Vincent asked.

"Distract it while I get on it's back," Kira said. He dashed off.

"Shit. I always get stuck with distracting things. Why? Is that how people see me, as a distraction? 'Go distract the enemy Vincent! You're good at that!' Bullshit is what I say. What about you, Mr. Dragon?"

The dragon roared.

"Good answer," Vincent said as he charged the beast again.

He used his sword to block the first attack from the claws. But then the dragon decided to change things up.

It breathed fire on Vincent.

Vincent yelped and blocked it with a hasty fire spell, "Damn! I forgot they could do that!"

The dragon suddenly lurched and began to turn around. Vincent got hit by the tail again.

Meanwhile, on the dragon's back, Kira lit his sword on black fire and was stabbing into the dragon's neck with precision.

The dragon began to shake, hoping to throw the man off. Kira was not deterred easily, for it took almost a minute and many slashes later for him to be thrown off.

The dragon tried to examine its wounds weakly. But then something else stabbed into it from the front.

"Bitch, I came back from the dead for this," Vincent growled as he stabbed the dragon in the stomach.

The beast roared and began to cover Vincent with fire.

That is, if Kira hadn't sped by and grabbed him.

The dragon fell to the ground after the last breath of fire. Vincent had somehow managed to hit something important while Kira had practically severed its airflow.

"Score one for black team," Vincent said, holding out his hand for a high-five.

Kira high-fived Vincent.

XXXXXXXXXX

Artemis pov

The fighting died down as the last of the dragons were defeated. I looked around, seeing that Renault and Rolanda were both okay. There was only one thing that was troubling me:

"Where's your father?" Perseus asked me as he looked around as well. There didn't seem to be any sign of him.

Suddenly, I heard a loud rattling as one of the dragons began to struggle. There was a figure shoving a senbon needle into its eye. That was an interesting way to use an acupuncture tool.

The dragon stopped fighting, and the blood-spattered figure walked up towards us. It was my father. His body was lined with claw marks and his hair was painted a deep red, but aside from that it seemed hde was fine.

I ran up and hugged him. My father merely chuckled before saying "Fie, you were worried about me? You should know by now that your father is much too strong for a hatchling like that would take him down."

I held him even tighter "Don't rush into battle like that again."

"Sorry to worry you, will a sparring match make up for it?"

"No." I pouted before easing a little "Okay, maybe."

Dad chuckled as he ruffled my hair "It's a deal then. Perseus, can you come patch me up?"

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Hawke pov

"Well," Rolanda began "You're still a pervert in my eyes, but one that can fight. In my book that still means something."

"I'm not sure whether to think of that as a compliment or an insult." I said uneasily "What about the 'wretched dragonkin' who you so disdained?" I said, smirking in an attempt to hide the fear that she would cut me in two with that massive sword of hers. I thought we were strong, but she was just as much of a monster as the dragons she despised.

"The scaly basterds were admittedly much better than I had expected, although they haven't developed their talents yet. I suppose the same could be said for you and that other girl, I believe her name was Harmony?"

"Developed?"

"Well, as branded, you will have certain talents due to your bloodlines. Most of you will gain those talents over time, but that Nocht kid should have been able to learn them by now. Did he ever receive any form of formal training outside of the academy?"

"No, I don't believe he did, aside from some magic training with his parents. His mother never really mentioned their bloodline and neither parent talked much about the war."

"Hmm, Renault may know a little bit of how to train those abilities, especially since he once worked with a man who used a more artificial version of it. If we are to win this war, then we'll need all the help we can get." I got the feeling that she was referring both to the Elibean predicament and our own.

"Is that a sign of your assistance?" I asked, and the blue haired woman merely nodded with a smirk on her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Isaac pov

"Thanks for your help back during the battle! Who knows what would have happened if I had fallen." Harmony's cut voice filled my ears. Wait Isaac, you shouldn't be thinking things like that about the enemy!

"Okay, where the hell is it?" I asked while searching the area.

"Where is what?"

"Whatever crazy prank you have set up! Tell me what you set up and where before I tear the place apart looking for it!"

"There isn't anything. I just really wanted to thank you, I could have died back there."

"You're not welcome then. I saved you because we need every troop alive, nothing more."

Harmony pouted before murmuring "Why do you hate me?"

"Not just you. I hate all pirates. I want them to disappear from the face of the universe!"

"We're not all like the ones you met, you know."

"Huh?"

"Yes, some of them are dicks, but those are only the worst of us. Some of us are just pretty good people who happen to like the rush of it like Reno and Lyrenne. Others came from a position that was simply much worse than the life of a pirate." The girl began to smile a little "The one thing that we have in common is that none of us are normal." The girl paused for a moment, as if she were unsure of whether to say what came next. "They may have taken everything from you, but they gave everything to me."

"I'm not sure I can believe something like that…" I said, but I could feel that I wanted to hear her side of things.

"If you can spare the time again, I can tell you my story next time." The girl said before turning around.

"I'd like to hear it." I said before turning myself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**And the first battle of Elibe, everyone! What will happen next chapter? Who knows?**

**Cormag: I certainly don't know.**


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